I Play My Part You Play Your Game
by Bastard Snow
Summary: Lucy Lane comes back to Smallville, and she’s not alone.
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: I Play My Part (You Play Your Game)

**Rating**: PG-13

**Author**: BastardSnow

**Spoilers for Season 7 of Smallville**

**Summary**: Lucy Lane comes back to Smallville, and she's not alone.

**Author's Notes**: I'm messing with the Smallville timeline a little. For the purposes of this story, please assume that there was about a month between Lana leaving and Chloe getting arrested. As always, thanks to Drake for beta'ing.

**Disclaimer**: I own none of this. It belongs to WB, Joss, Fox and whoever else. I make no profit.

* * *

**Smallville, Kansas  
Now**

"What do you think?"

Clark Kent eyed his target. This was something he could do. He knew he could do this. Chloe Sullivan was his best friend in the world, and he was determined not to let her down.

"Six in the side," Clark said. In a single smooth stroke, he tapped the cue against the cue ball, sending it ricocheting off the railing, hitting the six ball just hard enough to send it rolling right into the corner pocket.

"Ohhh!" Chloe said, exchanging a high-five with Clark. "And that's the game for us. Isn't that right, losers?"

Lois Lane rolled her eyes at her cousin, and jabbed a finger at her partner, Jimmy Olsen. "This is your fault."

"My fault?" Jimmy asked incredulously. "I sank four balls!"

"And I told you ahead of time, I am no good at pool. Therefore our team's fortunes resided on your shoulders alone, and you failed."

Jimmy rolled his eyes at her and sat down, exasperated.

"It's okay, Jim," Clark said, grasping Jimmy by the shoulder. "She gets to all of us, eventually."

"Go again?" Chloe asked, as Lois's cell phone rang.

"Sure," Lois said, glancing at her phone and frowning. "But give me a minute, I need to take this."

"Take your time," Clark said. "I'm going to get us some more drinks."

Clark wandered over to the bar and ordered two beers, a martini and a Coca-Cola. He got back to the pool table just in time to for Lois to begin fuming at Chloe about the phone call.

"I cannot believe her!" Lois said. "This, I swear, this is just like her, you know? Call up one day, 'Oh hey Sis, I'm coming to visit tomorrow, and I'm bringing my new boyfriend who's probably a drug addict and a criminal and a murderer. Hope you have somewhere for us to sleep!'" Lois let out a scream of frustration and grabbed her beer from Clark.

"Lucy's coming to town?" Clark asked, handing Jimmy his beer and Chloe her martini.

"Lucy?" Jimmy asked. "Who's Lucy?"

"My delinquent sister," Lois said. She turned to Chloe. "I need you to see what you can find out about this jackass."

"You think we need to find out about this guy before they show up?" Chloe asked. "I mean, he could be okay."

Lois and Clark stared at her.

"Right. Lucy. Don't know what I was thinking."

"Is she really that bad?" Jimmy asked.

"She can be a handful," Clark said, nodding.

"Wow," said Jimmy, chuckling a little bit.

"What?" Clark asked.

"Nothing," said Jimmy. "Just… coming from you, that's practically a condemnation."

Clark raised an eyebrow and turned to Chloe with a questioning look in his eye. She shrugged.

"Sorry big guy," she said. "I love you, but you do tend toward the rose-tinting on your glasses."

Clark smiled and turned back to Lois, who was standing next to the pool table, her glass empty, and her arms crossed over her chest as her toe tapped rapidly against the floor.

"This is not going to end well," she said, shaking her head. "Lucy is going to come in and somehow, she's going to mess everything up. It's what she does."

"What's this guy's name, anyway?" Chloe asked.

"What guy?" Lois said.

"The guy she's bringing? The potential criminal?"

"Oh. His name is Harris," Lois said. She sounded to Clark like she almost wanted to spit out the name. "Alexander Harris."

* * *

"You're sure this is going to be okay?" Xander asked.

"I am totally sure," Lucy said to him as they strode through the airport. "Trust me, my sister's gonna freak. And Clark totally won't mind two more boarders, not for a short time. He's totally chill, and a major hottie to boot. I swear, if Lois hasn't bagged him yet, I might, just out of spite. Cool?"

"Hey, do what you need to do, I always say," Xander said, following Lucy up to the rental car counter. "And I know from experience that spite is a solid foundation to build sisterly love and trust on."

"We need a car," she said to the man behind the desk. "A nice one." She nodded over her shoulder at Xander. "He's paying."

* * *

"What is taking so long?" Lois asked, looking over her cousin's shoulder.

"Do you have any idea how many Alexander Harris's there are in America? Or the world?" Chloe asked. "I have no idea how I'm going to find out about this guy. He's got like the 6th most generic name in the country. I've got Alexander Harris CPA, Alexander Harris attorney-at-law, Alexander Harris quantum physicist… the list is huge. Artist, carpenter, philanthropist, software engineer… it could be any of these guys."

"Probably not the quantum physicist," Clark said. He was enjoying, for once, not being the one making Chloe hunch over her laptop trying to find the unfindable.

"Any of them have a record?"  
"Sure," said Chloe. "Because I can just scan the nation's police records from my laptop. Every little town in America has their records online, and they're all freely accessible from –"

"Can you do it or not?" Lois asked, impatiently.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Probably not before they get here. Where did she meet this guy? Maybe I can find out something about him from there."

"She said they met in Prague," Lois told her.

"Okay, that's maybe something we can go on."

Lois paced around the room while Chloe tapped away on her computer for a few minutes and Clark basked in the feeling of having nothing to do.

"Uh oh," said Chloe.

"Uh oh? What uh oh? No uh oh," said Lois.

"How long ago did you say they met?"

"About six months."

"I was afraid of that," Chloe said, pointing at her computer screen.

"What is it?" Clark asked. He was relaxing, and unwilling to move.

"A couple of small items in the Prague Post from about six months ago. The first one is about a man named Alexander Harris being a 'person of interest' in an ongoing murder investigation. Apparently, some rich guy in a huge mansion just outside of Prague was killed, drained of blood, and his daughter was abducted. Harris's fingerprints were all over the place."

"I knew it!" Lois said.

"There's more. On the same day in Prague, there was a big drug bust, mostly cocaine, at one of the night clubs. And we've got art."

Clark grudgingly got up from the couch and joined the ladies at the laptop. "This is the night of the arrest," Chloe said. "And that right there is Lucy being led away in handcuffs."

"Lucy's into drugs now?" Clark asked, glancing sideways at Lois, who was getting redder by the second.

"It doesn't say that," Chloe said. "Doesn't even say she was charged. Just a picture showing her being arrested."

"My sister is a criminal," Lois said, falling into Clark's vacated seat on the couch. "She is an honest to God criminal. She's always been a little misguided, but this is..."

"We don't know that," Clark said, sitting next to her. "She may just have been in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"You don't really believe that," Lois said.

"But it's possible," Clark said. "Don't make up your mind, not until we have the whole story. There may be more to this than we realize."

"And what about this Harris guy?"

Clark shrugged. "Well obviously, if he's here now, he wasn't convicted of murder. I'm pretty sure they keep you in jail for that for longer than six months."

Lois frowned. "I still don't like it."

Clark checked his watch. "Well, listen, if their plane was on time, we've probably got an hour before they get here," he said. "Why don't you just take some time and relax? You're going to be stressed for a while here, just… sit back and be calm for a little while."

"You're right," Lois said, relaxing back into the pillows of Clark's couch. "I need to just take a few minutes, collect myself, and prepare myself for the coming days."

A horn beeped three times, the last beep drawing out over a few seconds, and they could hear a car speeding up Clark's gravel driveway.

"Ah, crap," said Lois. "Lucy drove."

Chloe, Clark and Lois all stepped out onto Clark's porch and watched the dust cloud rise as a shiny silver Lexus IS 350 rolled to a stop just in front of the barn.

"Well," Chloe said as the doors opened. "This should be interesting."

* * *

"You know," Xander said, gripping the handhold on the car's door, "I thought, after spending four months in Rome with Buffy that I could no longer be scared in a car."

"How's that holding up?" Lucy asked, whipping the car around a curve in the road at 75 miles per hour.

"Not as well as I'd hoped," he said.

"Oh!" Lucy said, pulling the wheel hard to the left. "Here we are!"

The tires squealed as she turned into the gravel driveway doing fifty. She honked the car horn three times as she sped toward the barn and farmhouse at the other end, which Xander could only describe as 'quaint.' The pulled up in front of the house and Xander saw three people come out onto the porch.

"Cute," Xander said.

"Come on," Lucy said, squeezing his hand and grinning at him. "I can't wait for them to meet you. You're gonna blow their minds." Xander smiled at her, and they opened their doors and stepped out.

"Lois!" Lucy yelled. She squealed a little and ran toward her sister. Xander stood back and watched, taking a good look at everyone. Lois was obvious. The family resemblance was obvious. Rather than excited, though, she looked worried, and not entirely pleased to see her sister.

The two others Xander recognized from Lucy's descriptions. Chloe, the short young blonde woman, was walking down the path from the porch, arms crossed, looking bemused.

Still on the porch was Clark. Xander could have picked him out from a half-mile away. Lucy had described him as the ultimate All-American boy multiplied by nine. That really didn't do him justice. The guy was as large as Adam had been. He was a farmer in America's bread basket, wore blue jeans, a red jacket and blue shirt, an American flag was flying from one of the pillars on the porch of the farmhouse, and honestly, the guy looked like he could challenge Riley in a contest for "cleanest-cut person Xander was ever likely to meet." He looked amused.

Xander followed Lucy up the path.

"And you must be Alex," Lois said, holding her hand out.

"That's me," he said, shaking Lois's hand. "Although I actually go by Xander."

"Why's that?" Lois asked.

Xander shrugged. "Just always have."

Lois took a moment and studied his face. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

He shook his head. "No, I would have remembered that."

"Weird," she said. "I could swear I... half recognize you."

"Xander, come meet everyone," Lucy called.

He stepped up and shook hands with both Chloe and Clark.

"Xander Harris, meet my cousin Chloe Sullivan and Clark Kent."

"Nice to meet you," he said. "Lucy's told me so much about you guys."

"Really?" Chloe asked, sounding surprised.

"Well, in the last week or so, anyway," he said. They all headed inside and settled into Clark's living room. Xander and Lucy sat on the couch, with Clark and Chloe in chairs on either side of them and Lois leaning against a wall in front of them.

"So what brings you two to Smallville?" Lois asked.

"Business, actually," Xander said.

Chloe looked surprised. "You have business in Smallville?"

"No, Metropolis, actually."

"What business?" Lois asked.

"Money," said Xander.

"Oh, you're in finance?" asked Chloe.

"Ah, no," Xander said. "I've got a meeting with the charitable arm of a couple of 3rd round VC firms that may be interested in helping out an organization I'm part of."

"VC?" Lois asked.

"Venture capital," Xander said. "A lot of people don't know, but a number of the larger firms are operating with non-profit status. So at the end of their fiscal year, if they don't have any big projects on the horizon, they often donate a large amount of profits they've made to charitable organizations. My group is trying to get a piece of the pie."

"You work for a charity?" Clark asked.

"He doesn't just work for them," Lucy said, obviously bragging. "He's on the board."

"Really?" asked Lois, intrigued.

Xander shrugged. "To be fair, the whole thing is run by a group of my friends, and we kind of fell backwards into it about five years ago. It was really rough the first couple of years, the people who used to run it kind of left the place in shambles, but we've kind of got some momentum going, and I think we're really starting to accomplish some things now."

"What group is it?" Chloe asked.

"We're called Children's Welfare International," he told them. "Originally, it was set up back in the 1960's to assist with impoverished children of all ages across the world. We, unfortunately, have had to narrow the focus, because of our lack of funds, so now we specialize in adolescent female education and placement, especially in Africa and Asia."

"And what does that mean?" asked Clark.

"Well, for instance we provide, uh, specific products to young girls in Africa, who would otherwise miss school, who lose out on education. We also investigate instances of abuse and attempt to get girls placed in homes where they will be well cared for."

"That sounds amazing," said Lois, who, if Xander read her right, looked honestly astonished.

"It really is," Xander said. "I really feel like we're making a difference."

"Okay, you guys, enough with the third degree!" Lucy said.

"Oh, I don't mind," Xander told her. "Trust me, I've been on the other side of this enough with Dawn, it's only fair that it's my turn."

"Well. Fine," she said. "But we should really get our things in."

"Oh, I can help you with that," Clark said, rising to his feet. He smiled at Xander. "Besides, these two will get more out of you than I ever will."

Xander stood up as well. "I appreciate you letting us stay here. I hope it's no imposition."

"Oh, well," Clark said. "Any friend of Lucy's…"

Xander smiled, and sat back down as Lucy and Clark stepped outside. Lois was now sitting on the arm of Chloe's chair, and they both had their arms crossed.

"So," Chloe said. "How did you and Lucy meet?"

Xander chuckled nervously. "Funny story, actually. Well, on my part. Well, sort of. Not really, actually. Anyway, we met outside a jail in Prague. Lucy – I'm sure you know this, but your cousin sometimes hangs with a rough crowd."

"She's been known to pick up the 'bad boy' now and again," Lois allowed.

"Right," said Xander. "Well, I guess this time she'd bitten off a little more than she could chew, and the guy she was with, along with his whole crew, got picked up in a massive drug bust. The cops pulled in something like seventeen million dollars in cocaine alone. Lucy got picked up with them, but the guy she was with was the target, like the number two in his organization, and they had no interest in her. Kept her overnight and released her.

"Wow," said Chloe. "And why were you there?"

"Heh," he said. He waved at Lucy and Clark as the pair came back inside with their bags and headed upstairs. "I was there as the suspect of a murder investigation, actually. Big misunderstanding."

"Must have been," said Lois. "How did that happen?"

Xander smiled at her. "I was working on a case, a girl, about fifteen years old, lived with her father, and they were being hounded by these local thugs. I mean really, just completely harassed. Through various channels, we heard about it, and decided we needed to do something – the local police wouldn't do anything, these guys were dangerous. So I go in, meet with the girl and her father, and I manage to arrange for passage and security to get them out of Prague. They had family in Ostrava, we were going to get them there."

"I thought –" Chloe started. "Sorry. I thought you said you worked in Asia and Africa."

Xander nodded. "Primarily, but not exclusively. We have offices on every continent. Well, the six populated ones, anyway. In any event, it turns out we were a bit too late. The night before we were supposed to get them out, the thugs attacked them, killing her father and abducting the girl. My fingerprints were everywhere, because I'd been there, so the cops – who were corrupt – fingered me for the murder.

"But, there was no real evidence against me, so they had to let me go. I got processed about ten minutes before Lucy did, and we started chatting while I was waiting for my ride. Gave her some cash to get a cab back to her hotel. It turned out she didn't have a room anymore because her um," he paused, considering his words, "her acquaintance's accounts had been frozen. So she showed up at my hotel, and while I am actually still not quite sure on the details of how it happened, she and I haven't been apart for more than a day since then."

"Wow," said Lois. "That is a hell of a story."

"What happened to the girl?" asked Chloe.

"She somehow, miraculously, managed to escape from her attackers. She flagged someone down, who dropped her off at our hotel, and we got her to her family in Ostrava."

Chloe shook her head. "I honestly don't know what to say."

Xander smiled at her. "Like I said. Making a difference. Most of our successes aren't nearly that dramatic. And we aren't always successful, either. But we do what we can."

Chloe and Lois glanced at each other for a moment.

"So," Chloe said. "Where are you from?"

"Don't you dare!" yelled Lucy from upstairs. Xander rolled his eyes.

"Here we go," he said.

"Don't you dare tell them yet!" she called, running down the stairs to join them. "Clark, you have to come down here for this!"

Lucy ran across the room and launched herself onto the couch, landing next to Xander with her legs draped over his. A moment later Clark appeared from upstairs and joined them.

"What am I down here for?" he asked.

"The greatest question in the world," Lucy said grinning at Xander. He stroked her leg through her jeans.

"It's not that funny," he said.

"No, it totally is. Especially with these three world weary travelers." She pushed his shoulder lightly. "It's so fun."

He shook his head, then took her hand and kissed it. He turned back and held a hand out to Chloe. "Your question."

"Um," she said, confused. "Okay. Where are you from, originally?"

"I'm from Sunnydale," he said.

Lois, Clark and Chloe were all struck silent, stunned looks crossing their faces as Lucy grinned at their reactions. Then Lois's eyes widened in even greater recognition.

"Oh my God!" Lois yelled, pointing at Xander. "That's where I recognize you from. You were… you were there! Right at the end!"

"Hey, yeah!" said Chloe. "You were on that bus, the last bus. The one with all those girls."

"I was," he said.

"What was it like?" asked Lois.

"Was it scary?" asked Chloe.

"Did you, I mean, did you, were you part of that lawsuit?"

"Did you get any of those hallucinations, like the demonic ones?"

The questions continued for almost a minute, clearly amusing Lucy the whole time. Xander smiled at her. She loved watching people react to his background. Especially the crazy ones, who got into conspiracy theories.

"It was," Xander said, going into what Lucy called his 'story mode,' "the third most frightening thing I have ever been through, behind a couple of other things I really don't want to go into. But this is how I remember it…"

* * *

"He's too good to be true," said Lois. Chloe and Clark watched her pace as they sat on the couch in Clark's loft in the barn. It was after dinner, and they were giving Xander and Lucy some space. "There is no way a guy as nice and wholesome as Xander Harris is with my sister. Either he's not who he claims to be, or she's scamming someone who really, really doesn't deserve it."

"I don't know," Clark said. "I spoke with him for a few minutes. He seemed pretty honest."

"So she's scamming him?" Lois asked.

Chloe shrugged. "I don't know that either. I haven't seen an angle yet. I mean, unless she's playing him for money…. But all the money he raises goes to that charity. I don't know what he makes, but it can't be that much."

"Could be, actually," said Lois. "That's a pretty expensive car they rented."

"Sure," Chloe said, "but he also has to project an image for the people he's meeting. And at the same time, even if he's making, like, a hundred thousand a year, I don't think that's really enough for Lucy to just give up and become some guy's arm candy. Do you?"

Lois shook her head. "That's not like her." She sat down roughly. "Damn! I wish I knew what she was up to."

"Maybe she's not up to anything," he said.

The other two looked at him, disbelieving.

"What I mean is, maybe she's not up to anything illegal. For the moment. I mean, think about it for a second. Pretend you're Lucy. You meet this guy, who's a nice guy, but since he's up on a murder charge he doesn't seem that nice. So you get to know him, you like him, whatever."

"Not seeing the angle," Lois said.

"And that's the point," Clark said, leaning forward. "He comes to Metropolis on legitimate business, and Lucy takes the opportunity, knowing it'll freak you out, to come visit. She's not playing any angle except the ones you make up in your head."

Lois and Chloe both thought about that for a moment. Finally, Lois shook her head. "It's too brainy," she said. "I mean, Lucy's no idiot, but I don't think this is her style."

"But it doesn't have to be," Chloe pointed out. "If Clark's right, this is just making the best of an opportunity. Mischief intended, but not planned."

Clark sat back and held his hands palms up, questioning. "Well?"

"I'll keep it in mind," she said.

"I don't like lying to your family," Xander said, turning in bed to face Lucy.

"I lie to them all the time, why shouldn't you?"

"I just feel like a jerk," he said. "Presenting them this front. It's nowhere near who I am."

"It's close enough," Lucy said. "Besides, you tell this crap to people all the time, all over the world. How is this any different?"

"I don't like lying to family," he said. "You know where that's gotten me and the guys."

"So what, you want to just come out and tell them the truth?" Lucy asked.

"No, of course not, don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not the one being ridiculous, Xander," she said.

"All I'm saying is, why say anything at all? Why not just say I've got a business meeting in Metropolis in a few days, and we wanted to come visit your family? Why is that not enough?"

"Because you don't know my sister and cousin," she said. "Chloe has wanted to be a journalist, I think, since she was in the womb. And Lois has never been able to let anything drop when it comes to me. She practically raised me, Xander. She gets protective."

Lucy reached up and stroked his hair. "So why not tell them these lies? There's a reason Willow set all those websites up, got all those forms on file, everything. So you'd have something to tell people. And at the same time, we set my family's mind at ease. So where's the bad?"

"I know," Xander said. He leaned forward and kissed her. "And it's your family, so it's your call."

"Damn straight," she said. She stroked her hand over his heart. "Speaking of Willow, how is everyone?"

Xander lifted up the collar of his shirt and glanced at the tattoo there. It was a five pointed star, with the lower left leg filled in. He, Dawn, Willow, Buffy and Giles all had tattoos like it. He and Dawn each had a leg filled in, him the left and Dawn the right. Willow had the left arm, and Buffy the right. Giles had the top prong. Each prong of the tattoo changed slightly depending on the corresponding person's current state. If one of them was in trouble, the others would all feel it.

"Fine," he said, lowering his collar. "Asleep mostly."

"Good. So when are your meetings again?"

"I've got that actual, so-called legitimate meeting with LuthorCorp in three days, and Ollie said he'll be in town the day after that," Xander said.

Lucy laughed and shook her head. "I can't believe you know Oliver Queen well enough to call him Ollie."

"Yeah, well, that's another thing we don't talk about," Xander said. "The story of how he and I met is not one we're letting your family in on. That one's almost too weird for me. Best not to even mention him."

"Speaking of not mentioning," she said. She ran her thumb over his left eyebrow.

"Ah, yeah," he said. He turned back around, removed the glass eye from his eye socket and placed it in a glass with a cleaning solution, then put on an eye patch. "Always forget."

"I know you do," she said with a smile. She kissed him once, then turned over. "Now get some sleep. We've got a long day of lying our asses off tomorrow."

Just down the hall, Lois, who was staying at the Kent house for the duration of Lucy's visit, lay awake worrying about her sister and her sister's boyfriend. Downstairs, on the couch, Clark slept a deep and restful sleep.

* * *

End Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

Notes, disclaimer, etc., in chapter 1

* * *

"There is a selection of breakfast cereals in the cabinet," Clark said when Xander managed to drag himself downstairs the next morning. "Or I can cook up some eggs if you –"

Xander waved him off. "Do you have Lucky Charms?" he asked.

"I think so," Clark said.

Xander grinned, heading for the indicated cabinet. "Eggs I can get most places. Lucky Charms are a rare delicacy."

He joined Clark at the table with a bowl and some OJ, and they sat quietly for a minute or two.

"So," Clark said. "What are your plans for today?"

Xander shrugged. "I'm not really sure. What are the sights to see?"

"Around here?" Clark asked. "How do you feel about corn?"

"Tasty," Xander said. "But not that interesting."

"Then I'm afraid you might be bored," said Clark. "There's not a lot of here here."

Xander chuckled and glanced behind him as Lucy came down the stairs in a sports bra and running shorts.

"Morning boys," she said, leaning over Xander's shoulder and giving him a kiss. "Back in an hour."

"Enjoy," Xander said through a mouthful of increasingly soggy, artificially colored marshmallows.

Clark laughed. "You know I have to admit, you're not what I thought you'd be like."

"Who, me?" Xander asked, wiping some dripping milk from his chin. He swallowed his cereal. "What did you think I'd be like?"

"Well, it wasn't you specifically," Clark said. "Just that you're dating Lucy."

Xander nodded sagely, downing another bite of cereal before he responded. "I know what you mean. I met one of her earlier um. Let's call him a suitor. Didn't take kindly to the fact that I was now, as he put it, 'plowing his fields. '"

He shook his head. "Lovely guy. Huge guy, actually." Xander faux-flexed his arms. "Like, six feet six, two forty-five, all muscled and tattooed to hell, you know? The kind of guy you don't actually think you'll ever see outside of a bad movie with biker gangs. He was like that."

"That sounds a little closer, although… more extreme," Clark said.

"He was surprisingly smart, too, if Lucy's to be believed," said Xander.

"If?"

Xander shrugged. "She has a knack for embellishment, which I'm willing to bet you're aware of. But apparently they ran some scam dealing with, I don't know… bearer bonds or something like that. It was all over my head. Didn't work out, but he's apparently a math whiz."

"So what happened when you met him?"

"What you'd expect," Xander said. "Fight."

"You get hurt?"

Xander shook his head. "We happened, at the time, to be visiting a friend of mine in Rome. She's um… something of a martial arts expert. She stepped in and took care of the situation."

"You let her fight him for you?" Clark asked.

"Hey, I got nothing to prove," Xander said. "There was a time that having a girl fight my fights would have bruised my manly pride and caused me to do something stupid and probably chauvinistic. I like to think I'm a bit wiser now.

"And anyway, my friend could kick my butt from here to Cleveland and back, not even break a sweat. And I've got no love of being beat on by large men. So she handled it. Put the guy down, maybe broke an arm, maybe a nose. Not a scratch on her, though she did break a heel that I had to pay for."

"She sounds tough," Lois said from behind him, causing Xander to jump just a little.

"You are scary quiet," he said. "And yeah. She is tough. Strongest woman I ever met. Where'd you learn to be so quiet?"

"Army," Lois said. "The General made sure I was well prepared to defend myself, take care of myself and my sister. Sometimes that included not being noticed."

Xander nodded. "Best way to get through a fight is never to let it start."

"Lucy not up yet?" Lois asked.

"Running," said Clark, nodding at the door. "Said she'd be back in an hour."

"Lucy?" Lois asked. "Miss 'I don't get out of bed before noon, nobody who matters is up before then anyway?' Lucy Lane?"

"Well, we're still on London time, really," he said. "So this is kind of like early afternoon for us."

"Ah," said Lois. She helped herself to a cup of coffee and then joined them at the table.

"So, do you have any suggestions on what we should do while we're in town?" Xander asked her.

"Other than the Talon?" Lois asked. "There's nothing. Best shot is to head into the city and check out some museums or something. Though I'm sure Metropolis museums aren't up to the standard of London."

"A few of my friends and I were actually given a behind-the-scenes tour of the British Museum," Xander said. "There's a lot of interesting stuff that goes on there. And a lot of really boring stuff, too. Hearing about the process used to restore ancient documents is pretty interesting. Watching someone do it for a half hour, not so much." He held up a hand with his thumb and forefinger an inch apart. "They get like that much done. Whoopee."

"In any event," Clark said, "the city's probably your best bet."

Xander nodded. "Plus, I should probably figure out where my meetings are. So I'm not late. Either of you feel like joining us?"

Clark shook his head. "No, I think we –"

"Love to," Lois said, staring at Clark for a moment. "I haven't seen my sister in a few years. Sounds like a good time. And you boys can bond."

Clark stared back at her for a moment, then looked at Xander. "Sure," he said. "Sounds like fun."

* * *

Clark glanced at two young women who walked into the exhibit room he'd just come from. He'd seen the pair a dozen times so far, always one room behind. Maybe they were just taking the same route through the museum, but something about them felt off to him.

Clark turned and looked at a beautiful painting by a famous artist he thought he was supposed to know, and did his best not to invade Xander's privacy. The man was about twenty feet away, talking on his cell phone about something that was obviously work related.

But he was with Lucy. Clark might feel bad, but if Xander was up to something, he needed to know before that something happened. He listened.

_"No," Xander said. "If it isn't on my desk, I don't know where it is. That was the last place I had it."_

_"Well, I looked there, Xander, and it isn't there" said a female voice._

_"Well, ask Andrew, if you haven't already, he's always going through my stuff."_

_"Okay, I'll talk to him. How's Smallville?"_

_"Appropriately named," Xander said. "But the people are nice, and I think it's going okay with her family."_

_"What about the other stuff?"_

_"Nothing yet, Will, but we've only been here a day. Anyway, I'm holding everyone up, I need to go."_

_"Okay, sweetie, well stay safe."_

_"Always. And give my love to Dawn and Buffy."_

_"Will do. Bye."_

Clark turned his attention back to the painting, wondering what other stuff Xander and Lucy wanted to get into here that would have one of his friends tell him to stay safe.

"Sorry about that," Xander said. "Work never ends, no matter how much you try to leave it behind."

"It's no problem," Clark said. They began strolling toward the next room.

"I wanted to thank you for coming with us today," Xander said.

"Oh, I was happy to," Clark said.

"Well, I know it wasn't your first choice," Xander said. "But Lois is concerned about Lucy, and I think you… add a level of familiarity that might be keeping her from…"

"Freaking out?" Clark asked.

"I can't imagine this is easy for her," said Xander. "I mean, I don't know much about her, but if Lucy were my little sister, I'd have been institutionalized years ago. Lois just seems to have buckled down and dealt with her."

"It wasn't easy, I know that much," said Clark. "But I'm pretty sure it was the General's influence, at least partly. Some of it is just that Lois is about the most bullheaded person I know. Once she gets an idea in her head, there's no stopping her."

"I know what you mean. One of my friends is like that."

"You seem to be doing okay, though, dealing with Lucy."

Xander smiled. "It's not always the simplest thing, that's for sure. I do always seem to have been attracted to headstrong women, though. Women who have their own standards and don't care if other people approve."

Clark chuckled as they stepped into the next room. "Lucy certainly is that." He glanced behind them and saw the two girls keeping pace, one of them looking directly at Xander.

"And her standards are not quite what others may consider normal," Xander added.

"Not quite," Clark said. "Can I ask you an odd question?"

"Sure."

"There are two girls behind us, and one of them keeps looking at you. Do you know them?"

Xander turned around and looked. "I don't see… oh, the two brunette girls? One with the acid washed jeans?"

"That's them," Clark said.

"No idea. Why?"

Clark shook his head. "I just get this funny feeling about them. Like they're following us, almost."

Xander laughed. "I think you're paranoid."

Clark glanced back at the girls, who appeared to be deep in discussion over the finer points of one of the paintings. He shook his head.

"You two boys playing nicely?" Lois asked. She and Lucy had decided to join them again.

"We're fine," Clark said.

"And we're bored," Lucy said. "I hate fancy art."

"There are some pretty esoteric pieces here," Lois said, pointing to a piece on the wall that appeared to be a yellow canvas with brown splotches, two of which had halos.

"It just looks like poo," said Lucy.

"So," Xander said. "What's next, then?"

* * *

Lucy surveyed the sight before her and shook her head. After what she had to admit was a full day walking around Metropolis and seeing the sights – even a trip into Suicide Slum, for a diner Lois was familiar with – they had all come back to Clark's house after dinner, and Xander, Clark and Lois had promptly crashed out in front of the television.

They were sleeping soundly. Xander, passed out in the recliner and Lois and Clark sleeping – to what Lucy was sure would be Lois's unending horror – together on the couch, with Lois's head resting softly on Clark's shoulder.

Which meant that this was Lucy's opportunity.

She ran up stairs and grabbed an envelope from her bag, then slipped on her jacket, grabbed her phone and the keys to the Lexus, and headed outside.

Lucy slipped into the driver's seat, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She turned the key and started the car, threw it into drive, then looked up and hit the gas, before immediately slamming the brakes.

Standing in the headlights, arms crossed over his chest and looking for all the world like there wasn't a force in the universe that could make him move, was Clark Kent.

"Damn it," Lucy muttered.

Clark approached the car and she rolled down the window.

"Hey, Lucy," he said, kneeling down to look in the window.

"Clark."

"Where are you headed in the middle of the night without telling anybody?"

"I have something I have to do," she said. "It's kind of… my own business."

"You know the last time you were here, your own business cost Lex 50,000 and three stitches. And got your sister into real hot water with your dad. And I seem to recall that I was played for the fool as well."

"I can't deny any of that," she said. "The last time I was here, I caused chaos, and brought nothing but difficulty for any of you. I admit it, and I take full responsibility for that."

"Saying you take responsibility doesn't really do anything," Clark said.

"Clark… look. I know you have no reason to trust me, and every reason not to. But I'm asking you, please, just have some faith in me. I promise that what I'm doing, it won't have any effect on you at all. Or on Lois, or anyone you care about. It's just something I have to do. For me."

"Your sister loves you," Clark said. "But she's been through some really rough times recently. She's had some hard breaks. Been let down by some people who shouldn't have."

"I'm not going to let her down again, Clark. I swear to you," she said, pleadingly. "Please. Just trust me this one time, and I will prove that you have nothing to worry about, and neither does Lois. I just need to do this one thing."

He stood up. "One chance, Lucy," he said. "You've tested her so much. I don't know if she can ever trust you if you mess up again."

"I won't," she said. "I promise."

Clark stepped back from the car. Lucy looked up at him and smiled, then looked slightly to his left, winked, and sped off into the night.

Clark turned and looked behind him and saw Xander standing on the porch and looking confused.

* * *

"How much did Lucy tell you about the last time she was here?" Lois asked, nursing a cup of coffee.

Xander shook his head. "Not a lot. She said she caused some trouble, did some things she wasn't proud of, but she never went into specifics."

"Specifically," Lois said, "she was on the run from a Swiss loan shark. She tricked Clark into getting some help from a friend, then played that friend for 50,000. Got him a big cut on the head, too."

"Close friend?" Xander asked, looking up at Clark.

"He was at the time," said Clark. "We've had a falling out since."

"So you understand, though, why we're worried," Lois said.

"Oh, I understood why you were worried before you even told me that," Xander said. "I'm well aware that Lucy has a colorful history. But she's left a lot of that behind."

"And I just don't know how I can trust that," Lois said. "And, I love my sister, don't get me wrong, but I'm worried she's playing you, too."

Xander smiled. "Lois, I can guarantee you that Lucy is not playing me. And she's not playing you guys this time, either."

"How can you be sure?"

He just nodded his head slowly up and down. "I'm just… I am."

"But even you have to admit that running out the way she did is a little suspicious," Clark said.

"Sure," said Xander. "But I believe that whatever Lucy is doing right now is something she honestly feels she has to do, and that it's not something that will disappoint you."

"Do you know what she's doing?" Lois asked.

"I trust her," Xander said, glancing up at the clock. "That's enough for me. Anyway, I hope you guys won't mind if I head up to bed now."

"You don't want to stay up to see she gets back all right?" Lois asked.

"Two things I've learned in the time I've known your sister, Lois, are that she can take care of herself, and that when she runs off in the middle of the night and doesn't tell anybody where she's going, you're probably not going to see her again until at least two AM. And I don't know about you, but I'm pretty tired."

They said their goodnights, and Xander went to sleep.

"Does he seem a little off to you?" Lois asked.

Clark shrugged. "A little less concerned than he could be, but not uncaring."

"No, I mean, I get the feeling that he knows something we don't know, and it amuses him. And like it's something pretty big, too."

Clark shrugged. "He seems all right to me."

"Did Chloe ever get back to you about looking him up?" Lois asked.

Clark shook his head. "I think after meeting him, she liked the guy."

"I'm gonna call her," Lois said. "Something here doesn't sit well with me."

"Well, call her in the morning," Clark said. "Ask her to look."

Lois nodded, still staring out the window.

"Hey," Clark said, placing his hand on her shoulder. She looked up into his eyes. "She'll be fine."

A moment later, Lois shook herself. "Yeah," she said, standing and walking over to the sink. She poured out her cold coffee. She turned around and smiled at Clark. "Honestly, I'm almost more worried for Smallville."

Clark laughed. "It survived her last time."

"Sure," Lois said. "But last time, we knew where she was."

"Xander says he trusts her."

"And you trust him?"

Clark shrugged. "At the moment, what other choice do we have? Why don't you go on to bed. I'll hit the couch and make sure she gets in okay."

"You'll fall asleep," Lois protested.

"I'm a light sleeper."

Lois sighed, and suddenly looked very tired. "Fine," she said. "And you'll talk to Chloe tomorrow?"

"I promise."

Lois nodded and headed upstairs. "Goodnight, Clark."

"Night, Lois."

* * *

"Hey," Xander whispered, when Lucy crawled into bed sometime around three.

"Did I wake you?" she asked.

"Yeah, but that's okay. Everything go okay?"

"Didn't get arrested."

"That's always for the best. How was he?"

"Lex?" she asked. "Surprised as hell. I think I'm about the last person he expected to see ever again."

"And the uh…"

"Bugs?" she asked. "All planted. The ones Willow gave me blended right into the decor. That chick has scary mojo."

"I told you," he said, smiling. "And you're sure you're safe. I mean, he didn't see you placing them or anything?"

"Worried about me, Xander?"

"Hey, it's not every day I send my girlfriend on a covert ops mission to Luthor freaking Mansion. With any luck, though, those bugs will give us some serious insight into what he's doing."

"Well, don't worry. I'm fine and he suspects nothing. Now get some sleep."

Xander leaned over and kissed her. "Love you, Lu."

She turned and smiled up at him. "I love you too, baby."

* * *

End Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

Notes, disclaimer, etc., in chapter 1. Apologies for the long hiatus.

______________________________________________________

Chloe looked up as she saw her best friend enter the Talon. "How did you get out of whatever tourist stuff they're doing today?" she asked.

Clark laughed and sat down next to her. "Begged off for farm chores," he said. "You know there are days that being able to run really, really fast is not the worst thing in the world."

Chloe smiled at him. "So how are things with the happy couple?"

"Seem okay," Clark said. "Lucy took off last night for a few hours, don't know where she went. But she came back in one piece, and there doesn't seem to be a warrant out for her arrest."

"Nope. I've been watching," said Chloe. "Although I might be able to shed some light on her destination."

"Oh?"

"Well, there's nothing conclusive, but I overheard someone saying an alarm went off at the Luthor mansion last night."

Clark frowned. "You think she went to see Lex?"

"I don't know, but it's not every day someone tries to break in there."

"Was anything taken?" Clark asked.

Chloe shook her head. "Not as far as I know. Did her boyfriend have any idea?"

"Xander? No. He just said he trusted her, and then went to bed."

"Huh."

"Yeah. Actually, we were hoping you could do a little more digging on him," Clark said. "There's something about him that doesn't sit right."

"Way ahead of you, actually," Chloe said. She reached into her bag, pulled out a manila folder and handed it to Clark. "There's not a lot in there. He graduated high school with slightly lower-than-average scores, worked for a construction company where he did pretty well, and then Sunnydale fell into the ground.

"Other than that, he had a police file in Sunnydale, but no arrests or convictions. Questioned in high school regarding a murder he witnessed, and again in '02 about an attempted murder and another actual murder he witnessed, but he wasn't a suspect in either."

"He was around that much violence?"

"You remember all of those stories about the hallucinations in Sunnydale?" Chloe asked. "Well, according to a number of theories, that was caused by an underground gas chamber, which could have been leaking for years, and causing erratic behavior. Because, let me tell you, the crime numbers in Sunnydale are stunning and bizarre. Primo Wall of Weird material. But, him having been witness to all of that?" She shrugged. "It's interesting, but not suspicious or outstanding. Not for that town."

Clark nodded. "What about after Sunnydale?"

"It's like he said," she told him. "He and some of his friends fell backwards into this non-profit. They've got some testimonials on the website, areas where they've done work. It all looks very above board."

"But…?" Clark asked, looking over the papers she had given him.

Chloe sighed. "But there are a couple of things that bug me."

"Like what?"

"Well, one of his friends, umm Buffy Summers. She _was_ the suspect for that first murder he witnessed. No charges were ever filed, but the cops were after her. And she was also 'attempted' in that second incident."

"Okay. And?"

"And, the murder that happened at the same time was a young woman named Tara Maclay. She appears to have been involved with another of Xander's friends, Willow Rosenberg," said Chloe. "Or so say the police reports, anyway. This Rosenberg was listed as Maclay's next of kin, and her partner."

"Partner?"

"Lover," Chloe said.

"Oh," Clark said, nodding. "So that's a lot of violence around one group. One person."

"It is, yeah. To us. For Sunnydale? It turns out that kind of thing is pretty standard. Sunnydale had more murders per capita than Detroit. Which is very weird."

"It sounds rough," Clark said. "So this group of friends got out, and now they run a charity for girls."

"Basically," said Chloe.

"But other than that…"

"Other than that, as far as I can tell, he's clean."

Clark nodded. "Okay. How are you doing?"

Chloe smiled. "I'm fine. I'm a little busy these days, actually. I've picked up a lot of freelance work since being fired by Lex, and I've also got that um… other gig?"

"Ollie?"

Chloe nodded. "He's been a busy little vigilante recently."

"Well, make sure you stay safe," Clark said. "I worry."

"I'll be fine, Clark. Besides, what do I have to worry about with my very own Kryptonian protector?"

Clark smiled at her. "I'd rather not have to make saving you a habit," he said. Clark glanced at his watch. "Oh, I have to go. They should be back soon, and I have a few things to do yet."

Chloe nodded, already engrossed in her computer screen again. "Say 'hi' for me. I'll drop by tomorrow if I have time."

"Will do," Clark said. "And thanks."

Chloe waved to him, and her fingers attacked the keyboard.

* * * * *

"So?" Clark asked that evening when Lois, Lucy and Xander returned from their journey.

"It was large," Xander said. "And I guess it probably is the biggest in the world. But it was kind of disappointing."

"I can't believe you dragged us all the way out to the middle of nowheresville to see a stupid ball of twine," Lucy said.

"Hey, I freely admit it was not my best idea ever."

"What was your best idea ever?" Lois asked.

Xander paused in thought for a moment. "Ending my celebration of Halloween," he said. "It just never turns out well."

"Well, dinner should be ready in about twenty minutes," Clark said, pointing to the oven.

"Aww, sweetie, you shouldn't have," Lois said, mockingly. "Slaving over a hot stove all day, just for us."

"What are we having?" Xander asked.

"Frozen lasagna," said Clark. "Mom would have a fit that I didn't make it from scratch, but I do what I can."

The four of them had a relatively tasty dinner, and afterwards sat up talking about everything from politics to sports to fashion and celebrities. At around 1 am, they finally gave up and went to sleep.

At about 3 am, Xander awoke with a pain in his chest. He flipped the light on and looked at his tattoo, then hurriedly put some clothes on, waking Lucy as he did so.

"Who is it?" Lucy asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Dawn," he said as he put his shoes on. He grabbed the keys to the car and his cell phone from the bedside table. "I'll be back as soon as possible." He leaned down and kissed her.

"Be safe," she said.

He smiled at her, then ran down the hall, jumped down half the stairs and sprinted into the driveway and into the car. Xander revved the engine and sped off into the darkness, throwing gravel in his wake.

When the car was long gone, Lucy had put on a robe and was leaning against the door that led from Clark's kitchen to the driveway.

"So I guess you're not the only one who runs off in the middle of the night."

Lucy turned and saw Clark standing by the couch.

"He has better reasons for it than I do," she said.

"What were you doing at the Luthor mansion last night?"

Lucy smiled. "Checking up on me, Clark?"

"Fool me once," he said, shrugging.

"Fair enough." She turned back to the driveway. "I was paying back Lex."

Clark frowned. "All fifty thousand?"

"All of it," Lucy said.

"Where did you get that kind of money?"

She shrugged. "I earned it."

"How?"

She looked over her shoulder. "Legally."

Clark walked up closer and leaned against the kitchen table. "You really care for him, don't you?"

She nodded once.

"Where's he headed?"

"Chicago," she said. "A friend of his is in trouble. He's going to help her out."

"Chicago?" Clark asked. "That's like nine hours from here."

"Be surprised if he takes more than seven."

"I meant, didn't he have a meeting today?"

Lucy nodded. "Yeah. It's not that important, though."

"Not that important? I thought this was funding for his group. All those girls –"

"Will still get everything the group can give them," Lucy said. "Today's meeting was going to be a drop in a very large bucket, Clark. They'll be fine."

Clark frowned, but let it drop. "So, you're just going to wait for him?"

"For now," Lucy said.

Clark stood there for a minute, watching her watch absolutely nothing happening in the dark Kansas night.

"Do you want some coffee?" he asked eventually.

Lucy smiled at him. "That would be great, thanks."

Clark set about making a pot of coffee, and when it was ready, they stood together in silence. Waiting.

* * * * *

"You two look like the walking dead," Lois said, when she joined Clark and Lucy at the kitchen table in the morning. "Only without the walking."

"Morning, sis," Lucy said, over her third cup of coffee.

"What's going on?" Lois asked. She poured herself a cup of coffee and glanced out the window as she did. "Hey… um, where's your rental?"

"Xander took it," Clark said.

"I thought his meeting wasn't until later."

"It's not," Lucy said. She glanced at the clock on the wall. "Actually, I'm going to head back to bed." She put her cup down and squeezed Clark's hand in her own. "Thanks for keeping me company. Catch up my sister, would you?"

Clark nodded.

Lucy stood up and gave her older sister a hug. "That's a good one you've got there, sis," she whispered. "Hold on to him."

"No, we aren't –"

"Even for a friend," Lucy said, before pulling herself up the stairs and into bed.

"What was that about?" Lois asked, sitting across the kitchen table from Clark.

"Xander went to Chicago," he said. "Apparently one of his friends is in trouble."

"And she stayed up, waiting for him to come back? Chicago's not exactly close."

Clark shrugged. "She's honestly worried."

Lois shook her head. "Lucy worried about somebody who isn't herself. Will wonders never cease."

She sipped her coffee and looked at Clark, who appeared to be debating something internally.

"What?"

He sighed. "She paid Lex back."

"She what?"

"The other night. She went to his mansion and paid him back all fifty thousand."

"With what money?" Lois asked, angrily.

"Her own. She says she earned it legally."

"And you believe her?"

"Actually," he said, barely believing his own words, "I think I do. I don't know what happened, Lois, but… I think your sister's changed. I think she grew up."

"I don't know. I can't shake the feeling that this is all one long con."

"That makes sense, I guess" Clark said. "But wouldn't your life be easier if you tried to trust her?"

"Only if she's actually changed," said Lois. "Otherwise I'm just setting myself up to be played again."

Clark thought about that for a moment. "Well then don't trust her," he said. "Trust me."

"You?"

"Yeah. Listen, I think she's changed. You don't see it, but you're willing to trust me on it. That way if I'm wrong, I'm the one who's a fool, and you're the one who believed the simple farm boy."

"Clark, you're not simple."

"I just mean," he said, "if you can't trust her that she's changed, trust me that she has. You know I wouldn't want to hurt you."

Lois sighed, and sipped her coffee again. "I'll consider it," she said.

"Do," said Clark. "I really think it would take a lot of weight off your shoulders."

"When did he leave?"

"Around three," Clark said.

"And you've been up since then?"

He nodded.

"You should get some sleep too," said Lois. "And go use your bed, for crying out loud. I'm going to bug Chloe and probably head into the Planet for a few hours."

Clark smiled at her. "I mean it," he said, standing up and heading for the stairs. "Think about it."

"I will," she said. "And Clark?" He turned around. "Thanks."

Clark smiled at her and climbed the stairs. Lois shook her head, grabbed her own keys and headed for her car. It had been six hours since Xander left. If he was going to Chicago and coming back almost immediately, then the earliest Lois thought he could be back was twelve hours.

She decided she'd be back in ten. Once in town, she stopped in at the Talon to see her cousin.

"Chloe," she called. "Just the woman I'm looking for."

"Ohhh no," said Chloe. She ducked her head toward her laptop, pretending not to see her cousin.

"Why is that everyone's reaction whenever I come around?" Lois asked.

Chloe smiled up at her. "What can I do for you?"

Lois rolled her eyes and sat down at the table. "I don't know. Clark said you cleared Xander."

Chloe shrugged. "Basically. From my point of view, anyway. There was some hinkiness around Sunnydale, but not much more for him than for anyone else in that town."

"Any idea why he would have run off to Chicago at three in the morning?"

"Lucy didn't know?" Chloe asked.

"She did. Something about one of his friends being in trouble."

"And you don't trust her."

Lois sighed. "I don't even know any more, honestly. I mean, she hasn't done anyth—"

"Wait, did you say three in the morning?"

"Uh, yeah," Lois said. "Why?"

"Like four cars tore out of here just after three," Chloe said. "They just sped off at like ninety miles an hour."

"What were you doing up that early?" Lois asked.

"Jimmy was late getting in," Chloe said. "Some bullcrap assignment in the city."

"You stayed up for him?"

Chloe shrugged innocently. "I like to know he's safe."

Lois took a moment to digest that. "Okay," she said. "Anyway, four cars?"

Chloe nodded. "I barely saw the first one, but each of the others had a couple of girls in them. I can't say they were headed to Chicago specifically, but they were going in the right general direction."

Lois frowned. "Clark mentioned something… about some girls he thought were following us around the museum. Two of them, actually. Do you think that's something?"

Chloe shrugged again. "It's the first I've heard of it."

"Do any of his friends live in Chicago?"

Chloe looked incredulous. "I'm supposed to know everybody he's ever met before, all of a sudden?"

"Do you know or don't you?"

Chloe stared at her for a few moments. Then she opened a file on her computer. "Okay. I only have a few of his known associates, basically the ones who are also on the board of that charity. One of them… um, Dawn Summers. She's in Chicago pursuing her PhD in Classical Languages and Archaeology."

"So that part is legit, at least."

Chloe sighed. "Look, I'm not promising anything, but give me a few hours and I'll see if I can dig anything up."

Lois stood up and kissed her cousin on the forehead. "I love you, babe."

"I get the love," Chloe muttered, "she gets to keep her job. Yeah, this world is fair."

----------

End Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

Notes, disclaimer, etc., in chapter 1.

______________________________________________________

Xander checked his watch. It had been eight and a half hours since he'd left Smallville. He lifted his arms and slid into the bulletproof vest.

"Is everyone clear on their assignments?" he asked. Twelve slayers nodded at him. "Okay. Then everyone load up. We move in ten."

Xander pulled up his cell phone and dialed. "We're about to go. Where are you?"

"Still waiting," Buffy said. "I'm on standby."

"You checked with the embassy?"

"Can't help," she said. "I'll be in when I can."

"Okay," Xander said. "Well we're going. I'll call you when it's over, and let you know where to go."

"Okay. Be careful."

"I'll get her, Buff."

"I know.

Xander said goodbye and hung up, then frowned and made another phone call, then rounded up the girls into the two vans and drove off. Fifteen minutes later, the two vans screeched up to a building, one behind and one in front.

Slayers shot out of the vans and rushed the house; two busted in the front door, and two busted in the back. Four more smashed the first floor windows and jumped in through them. The others stood guard outside.

Two minutes later, one of the slayers came outside. "It's empty," she said.

Xander pulled out his cell phone and dialed again. "She's not here."

"You did the spell just like I taught you?" Willow asked.

"Like you showed me a hundred times," he said. "This is the spot it pointed to."

"Well then she's there, but maybe hidden. Okay, do you have the standard supply box?"

"Four of them," Xander said.

"Great. Get a pen. You need to write this down."

"What is it?"

"A more specific locating spell. It'll lead you right to her. Guaranteed."

"Okay," Xander said. He got a pen and some paper. "Go."

Ten minutes and one spell later, Xander and a dozen Slayers were following a tiny ball of light through the house and into the basement. It disappeared into one of the basement walls.

Xander frowned. "This is not a new wall," he said, looking at the well worn mortar and brick. "So we know they didn't just brick it up. Somebody want to hit this for me?"

Two of the slayers stepped forward and punched the brick. The two girls stumbled as their fists went through the wall without resistance.

"It's a fucking glamour," one of the girls said.

"Well it's a good bet they know we're here," Xander said. "Everybody armed?"

The girls around him laughed.

"Then let's go."

They poured through the opening in pairs. Xander pulled out his pistol, took a deep breath and followed them in.

* * * * *

It was nearing eleven at night. Clark and Lois stood in the Kent's living room, arms crossed, watching Lucy.

"How long?" Lois asked.

Clark shrugged. "He called about seven hours ago, said he was on the way back."

"Did he say anything else?"

"Nothing she told me about," Clark said.

"Do you think I should –"

"Yeah."

Lois sighed, took one step and paused. "Um."

Clark looked outside. "Do you hear that?"

They both stepped into the kitchen and looked out the window. A helicopter was approaching the farm. As they watched, Xander's Lexus sped down Clark's gravel driveway. Lucy turned and looked at the kitchen table, then ran over and swept everything off of it.

"Lucy, what are you doing?" Lois asked.

Lucy turned on the hot water faucet, grabbed a sponge and scrubbed down the surface of the table as quickly as she could.

"Lucy?" Lois asked.

"Oh," said Clark. He stepped over to the door and held it open for Xander, who rushed inside with an unconscious girl in his arms.

"What the hell is this?" Lois asked.

Lucy shrugged. "The first wave," she said, giving Xander a kiss as he set the girl down on the table. Lucy took a look at her. "She looks fine."

"I don't know what it is."

"Is that Riley?"

"And a medic and a witch," Xander said.

"Um, excuse me, witch?" Lois asked. "Did you say a witch?"

"Who are all these people?" Clark asked, pointing outside.

"My girls," Xander said by way of explanation. He pulled open the door and a blonde man in a military uniform, who was as large as Clark, stepped inside. Behind him was a pretty young woman wearing a black tank top and army-green khakis.

"Hey, Xander," said the man.

"Riley. Mel."

The young woman nodded at him. "Dawn?"

He nodded.

"I'll do what I can, but with her power…"

"I know, but Willow's out for at least another couple of days."

Mel moved over to Dawn, placed a hand on her chest and closed her eyes.

"Um, excuse me…" Clark said.

"I know," Xander said, turning to him. "And I'm sorry. I'll explain everything, I promise, but I don't have any other options at the moment." He turned to Riley. "Where's your medic?"

"Seeing to your girls outside. Where's Buffy?" Riley asked.

"Right here," Buffy said, walking in the door. She gave Xander and Lucy a hug each. "Your boy got mobbed a little bit outside. Thanks for that, by the way."

Xander smiled. "Do what I can." He took her by the elbow and pulled her aside for a moment. "Listen," he said. "Are we okay?"

"What?" she asked, confused.

"It's just… last month, in London, you were kind of… avoidy."

"Oh. Oh, right. Yeah, we're fine," she said, smiling at him. "It was a stupid girl thing. Don't worry about it."

"Promise?"

Buffy held up her pinky. Xander was a little surprised at the gesture, but locked his pinky with hers, and they shook.

"Something isn't right here," Mel said. "I'm getting a lot of interference."

"What do you mean?" Xander asked, disengaging from the pinky swear.

"I mean a massive source of power," she said. "It's screwing everything up."

"Did you bring the scythe?" Xander asked Buffy.

Buffy shook her head. "Faith has it."

"Damn, Xander, those girls out there are fierce," said a new voice from the doorway. "They almost ripped my shirt. What'd I miss?"

"Ollie?" Lois asked. Oliver Queen stood in the doorway, looking as cool and collected as ever, despite his recent mobbing. A few slips of paper with phone numbers had been hastily slid into his pockets, and he quickly discarded most of them.

"Ollie, thanks for coming," Xander said, shaking the man's hand. "And for picking up Buffy."

"Just a tiny detour," he said, smiling at Buffy. "I was happy for the company."

"Oliver, what are you doing here?" Lois asked.

"Helping out a friend," he said, pointing to Xander. Ollie looked over and nodded at Riley, shaking his hand.

"Okay, seriously," Mel said. "Huge power source. I need everyone out of the room right now, if I'm gonna help her at all."

"I'm not going anywhere until someone gives me an explanation," Clark said. "You can't just invade my home and –"

"Clark, how about we talk in your barn," Ollie said, clapping him on the back. "You, me, Xander and the good Agent Finn can all go have a nice chat. You'll get some answers there. I promise. Right?" he said, looking at Xander.

"Yeah," Xander said. "Sounds good." The four men stepped outside and headed for the barn.

"We can't do anything to help here," Lucy said, leading Buffy and Lois into the living room.

"You didn't tell me you knew Ollie," Lois said.

"You didn't tell me you did," said Lucy. "It never came up."

"Sorry, do you have a bathroom I can use?" Buffy asked.

Lois pointed Buffy in the right direction, and then turned back to the kitchen where Mel was once again concentrating.

"I don't understand even a little bit of what's going on here," Lois said to her sister. "But this very attractive, young, unconscious girl certainly does seem to have a lot of people worried about her. Your boyfriend especially."

Lucy smiled. "Dawn is like the second most important person in the world to Xander," she said, leaning her head on her big sister's shoulder. "There's nothing he wouldn't do for her."

"Second, huh?" Lois asked. "Right behind you, I suppose."

"Oh, Lo," she said, with a soft laugh. "I just barely crack the top five."

The two of them stood there, watching Mel concentrate for a moment.

"Let's sit down," Lois said. "And you can tell me again how you met Xander, and who exactly he is. Because that story he told, about charity, about all that work? I'm not exactly buying it right now."

Lucy nodded, and they sat down. "So," she said, "it all started in Prague…."

----------

End Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimers, etc., in chapter 1

**--------------------**

**Six months ago  
Prague, Czech Republic**

Lucy looked around, shading her eyes from the bright morning sun.

"Never a cab when you need one," said a voice from off to her right. Lucy turned to look and saw a man in a rumpled black button-up, blue jeans and work boots, a generous amount of stubble and an eye patch over his left eye.

"Excuse me?" she said.

"Well, you'd think when the cops let you out they could at least call you a cab, so you can get back to your hotel. Hell, I don't even know how to get to the Icon from here, so it's not like I can walk."

"You're staying at the Icon?" she asked. She was impressed. That was an expensive place, and really nice, from what she'd heard.

The man shrugged. "It was recommended by a friend. You wouldn't happen to know where it is from here?"

"Sorry," Lucy said. "And a cab wouldn't help me. I couldn't pay him to take me anywhere." She turned out her pockets. "No cash."

Just then a motorcycle came roaring up the street, carrying a young woman with dark hair, wearing curve-hugging leather pants and a jacket and shirt that exposed a well-toned midriff.

"Hey lover," she said when she pulled to a stop. She tossed the man a helmet.

"Looks like my ride is here," he said. He whispered into the woman's ear for a moment. She rolled her eyes, but reached into her jacket and pulled out a few bills.

"Here," he said, handing her the money. "That should get you to your hotel, if you can find yourself a cab."

"Oh, I couldn't," Lucy said, silently thanking whatever gods were watching over her. She had no money, all of her stuff was in a hotel room that she didn't have a key for, and all of the people she knew in the city had just been arrested as part of a massive drug bust.

"Oh, please, I insist," he said.

"Well, how can I pay you back?" she asked. If the girl on the bike was his lover, Lucy figured she probably couldn't seduce him out of any money, but if he had a thing about hard-luck cases, maybe she could at least get a dinner out of him.

"Don't worry about it," he said.

"Oh, no, I insist," she said.

"Well, you know what hotel I'm at," he said. "You can ask for me at the front desk."

"Not if I don't know your name," she said.

The man smiled and held out his hand. "Xander Harris," he said.

"Lucy Lane," she replied. "Nice to meet you."

"You too, Ms. Lane," he said. Then he put on the helmet, mounted the bike, and wrapped his arms around the woman's stomach, before they rode off on the motorcycle.

Lucy stood there watching them for a second, trying to figure out the best way to play this one. She'd try to get into the hotel room, but she had no money except the fifty Euros this guy had given her.

Lucy shook her head and started to look around for a cab.

* * * * *

Lucy placed her two bags down next to the front desk, and then rang the bell for service. The young woman behind the desk looked up at Lucy and smiled. "Can I help you?"

"Um, I hope so," she said. "I'm looking for Xander Harris, I believe he's a guest here?"

"Certainly," she said. "Your name?"

"Lucy Lane."

The desk attendant tapped a few keys on her computer, then picked up the phone. It rang for a moment, and then she said, "Mr. Harris? There's a Lucy Lane at the front desk for you. Yes, sir. Thank you."

She hung up the phone. "Mr. Harris will be down in a minute."

Lucy turned around and leaned against the front desk, waiting for him to arrive. When he did, he looked nothing like she expected.

"Ms. Lane," he said, walking up to her, hand extended. "Nice to see you again."

"Please, call me Lucy," she said, taking in his attire. He was clean shaven, looking very professional in a well-tailored suit with a dark blue shirt and a maroon tie. It was a very smooth look, and he pulled it off well. More interestingly, he'd lost the eye patch over his left eye, and in its place was what appeared to be a fully functioning eye. "You look… different."

"Ah, work clothes," he said, tapping the glass eye. "They make incredible prosthetics these days." He pointed to the bar. "Care for a drink?"

Lucy looked at her watch, as if she had somewhere to be. "Um… sure. Why not?"

The pair headed over to the bar and ordered a couple of drinks.

"So, Lucy Lane," he said, "why were you in jail?"

She rolled her eyes. "Apparently the guy who I was involved with was involved in some other things."

"Such as?"

"Heroin, cocaine, opium, and the dealing of all of them. He got raided last night, and I got picked up. But I wasn't of interest, so they let me go."

"Lucky you," he said. "I mean, to an extent."

Lucy shrugged. "I'm used to guys who aren't very nice, but this one's kind of a new low for me. Luckily, I wasn't that attached to him."

"That is lucky," Xander said, sipping his drink.

"What about you?" she asked.

"Murder," he said.

Lucy's eyes widened, and she leaned away from him. That completely changed her plans, and now she was inclined just to pay him back and be on her way.

"Oh don't worry, I didn't do it," he said, smiling. "They picked me up because my fingerprints were all over the house. The guy who was killed was the father of a girl who my group was trying to get out of here. They've been harassed by a local criminal gang, I'm honestly not sure why."

"Your group?" Lucy asked.

"Ah," Xander said. He reached into his front pocket, pulled out a business card and handed it to her.

"Children's Welfare International," she read. "Vice President of Field Operations?"

Xander shrugged. "I'm in charge of making sure our people in the field get what they need, and occasionally handling sensitive or especially important contacts. Or dangerous ones."

"Like here."

He nodded. "Like here."

"So what happened to the girl… what was her name?"

"Kamila," he said. "She was kidnapped. I was about to head out to the local consulate to see if we could get some international assistance, although I'm not hopeful since she's a Czech citizen."

"And the police are no help," said Lucy.

"And the police are no help," he agreed.

"So what do you do if you can't find any help?"

Xander sighed. "My colleague you saw, Faith, who picked me up? There are some people here who owe her a few favors. They might be able to help out a bit. If not, I have a few other avenues I can try. But I'm not hopeful."

"Colleague?" Lucy asked. It was an opening. A slight glimmer that maybe she could come out of this still on her feet.

"Hmm?"

"No, it's just… she called you 'lover.'"

Xander laughed. "That's an old, old joke," he said. "I've known Faith since high school, and we once had an ill advised encounter. She's big on nicknames."

Lucy smiled, and finished her drink. "Well, it sounds like you've got important work to do. I shouldn't keep you from it." She reached into her purse, counted off fifty Euros and handed it to him. "That settles us, I think. Good luck finding your girl."

"Thank you," Xander said, pocketing the money.

Lucy hitched her purse up on her shoulder. She was deciding whether to ask him if he knew of any hostels, or any really cheap hotels, when a young man, a bellhop, ran into the bar.

"Mr. Harris!" he said, pointing to the lobby. "Out here!"

Xander frowned, slid off the barstool and followed the young man into the lobby.

"Kamila!" he called when he entered the lobby. Lucy followed and saw a pretty young girl, with dark hair and dark eyes, limping into the hotel. Her clothes were ripped, and she was bleeding from three or four wounds. She looked like she was about to collapse.

Xander rushed to her side and wrapped his arm around her to help hold her up until the bellhop brought a chair for her to sit on.

"Call an ambulance," Xander told the young man. He rushed off to the front desk.

"Kamila, what happened? How did you get here?" he asked.

"I… I…" she started. Then she broke down crying, and threw her arms around him. Xander pulled her close and held her tightly.

"The ambulance is on the way," said the young man. "Should be here very soon."

"Thank you," he said.

Lucy stood back and watched as Xander did his best to comfort this young girl, whose father had been murdered, who had been kidnapped, and who had apparently escaped from her kidnappers. Lucy shook her head. Even she had limits of who she would con.

She waited until the ambulance arrived. As the medics were loading the young woman up, Xander found her again.

"Listen, I hate to be an imposition," he said. "But Faith isn't here right now, and I need someone who can tell her what's going on, where I am. Would you mind?"

"Excuse me?" Lucy asked.

"I understand if you're busy," he said.

"No, not at all. I'd be happy to." It was a curious thing, she thought, that she actually meant it.

"Help yourself to anything at the bar or restaurant, I'll have them put it on my account," he said, nodding to the young bellhop. The young man nodded back.

"Thank you so much," Xander said, shaking her hand. "Oh, and let Faith know where you're staying."

"Why?" she asked.

Xander shrugged. "Never know." Then he turned and ran off to the ambulance, hopped in the back just before the doors closed. The ambulance sped off, and Lucy was left with an open tab at a bar, nowhere to sleep, and an assignment to wait for a woman she'd seen once and tell her about what had just happened.

"Okay," she said to herself. "I'm doing him a favor. This is not taking advantage. Just a quick favor, and I'm gone."

She sat down at the bar and ordered another drink.

* * * * *

It was hours later, and Lucy was a little more drunk than she had intended to be. She saw the woman from earlier stride into the bar looking around. Lucy got up from her seat a little unsteadily and waved at her. The woman looked at her oddly, but didn't walk away.

"You're Faith, right?" Lucy asked.

"Who's asking?"

"Lucy Lane," she said. "Your friend Xander asked me to wait here for you."

"How do you know him?"

"We met outside the jail this morning," Lucy said.

"Oh, right. You're the chick he gave my money to. What are you doing here?"

"Paying him back," she said. "And now I'm waiting for you."

"Any particular reason?" Faith asked.

"Yeah. He wanted me to tell you that the girl, Kamila?"

Faith's breath caught in her throat.

"She came back. Don't know how. He's at some hospital with her."

"Which one?"

"I… didn't actually get the name," she said. "That was pretty dumb of me."

"I'll figure it out," Faith said. "Thanks."

She turned to walk away, but Lucy grabbed her arm.

"One more thing. He told me to tell you where I'm staying."

"He what?" Faith asked. "Why?"

"Don't really know," Lucy said. "He said, 'Never know.'"

"Whatever, boy's got weird reasons for everything. So where are you staying?"

Lucy's face scrunched up. "Do you know any good hostels, or cheap hotels around here?"

Faith glanced at a clock on the wall. "You know it's like 11 pm, right? You're not gonna have much luck getting into a good hostel at this time of night."

Lucy's shoulders sagged.

"Tell you what," she said, "Xander obviously thinks you're trustworthy, or he wouldn't have left you here. We've got a suite. You can crash on the couch for the night, if you want."

"Seriously?" Lucy asked. These people were very generous.

"Sure," Faith said. "I mean, you helped us out. No need for you to sleep on the streets. Where's your stuff?"

"By the front desk," Lucy said. She pointed over to next to the front desk and saw – "Oh, crap."

Faith waved to the bellhop. "Did you see some bags over by the desk there?" she asked.

"Hours ago," he said. "A young woman came by and picked them up."

"Thanks," Faith said. She turned to Lucy. "Damn, girl. You're having a bad day."

"Seems so," Lucy said.

"Come on upstairs," Faith said. "At least you can get a good night's sleep. Maybe things'll look better in the morning."

Lucy nodded and followed her upstairs.

* * * * *

"This is not your fault," Lucy said. She had breakfasted on a handful of Advil and three glasses of water, and was currently arguing about money with Xander. And for once, she wasn't trying to take any.

"But I feel responsible," said Xander. "You wouldn't have been here if I hadn't asked you to stick around for Faith."

"And my bags wouldn't have been stolen if I hadn't been an idiot and just left them sitting in the lobby," Lucy said. "You don't owe me anything."

"Technically, no," he said. "But you helped me out. Now I want to help you out."

"I'm not going to take your charity," Lucy said. She almost didn't believe what she was saying.

Xander sat back in his chair. "Okay. Well how about this, then. I hire you as my assistant and local guide for the time that I'm here. As a member of my staff, of course, it's my responsibility to provide you with a place to stay and a daily food stipend, in addition to your salary."

Lucy leaned forward, her arms resting on her knees. "Why would you do this for me? You don't even know me."

"Honestly? I've seen what happens when young women with no money are left on their own."

"I can handle myself," she said.

"I don't doubt it," Xander said. "And also…" he shook his head.

"Also?"

Xander shrugged. "You're… you know."

Lucy shook her head. "I'm what? A girl? Alone? Poor?"

Xander laughed. "I was going to say cute, actually," he said. "If I was going for understatement."

Lucy sat back in her chair. She looked at him. He smiled lopsidedly. It was… actually kind of charming, she thought. And honest. Honesty was something she could use at this point.

"Okay," she said. "Then as long as you're in Prague, you've got a guide and assistant. What's my first assignment, boss?"

"Well, I have to go to the hospital to check on Kamila," Xander said. "So your first assignment is to pick out a restaurant, and then have dinner with me."

"Doesn't that violate some kind of company policy?"

Xander laughed. "Trust me. It won't be an issue."

"You know I don't have anything to wear to a nice restaurant."

Xander smiled at her, reached into his pocket and counted off some bills. "That should cover you."

"See you tonight then," she said, pocketing the money without counting it.

Xander smiled. "Tonight."

Lucy smiled back at him. For once, she actually had a good feeling about this.

* * * * *

**Now  
Smallville**

"So that's how it started," Lucy said. "I started out as his executive assistant, but..."

"But she was far too valuable to keep there, as much as Xander liked having the hot secretary," Buffy said, smiling at her. She was leaning against the wall, from where she had listened to Lucy's story. "Lucy has kind of carved out her own little niche in our organization. She's kind of our business strategist."

"So now you work angles for this charity?" Lois said.

"I prefer to think of it as looking at things from a slightly different direction," Lucy said. "Which we all kind of do."

"So, this charity you help out with. They're into some weird stuff? Because Xander said that the girl in the kitchen was a witch. So what, you've been indoctrinated?"

"They're not a cult, Lo," Lucy said, rolling her eyes. "They're just involved in some things that you're not aware of."

"Oh, and you are?"

"I am now," Lucy said. "They've opened my eyes to a lot of truths, Sis."

"Wow," said Buffy. "Lucy, I love you, your sense of fashion is beyond reproach, but you're really making us sound like a cult. Do you mind if I take over?"

Lucy smiled. "Sure."

Buffy sat down across from the sisters and looked Lois in the eyes. "There's never a good way to do this, so I'll just go at it full force. How much do you know about vampires?"

----------

End Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimers, etc., in chapter 1

_____________________________________________________

"Okay," Oliver said as he, Clark, Xander and Riley took seats in the loft in Clark's barn. "First things first. Xander, Riley, I can completely and totally vouch for Clark. He has my complete trust."

"Complete?" Xander asked.

"Yes," Ollie said. "He knows about my other little hobby as well."

Xander relaxed. "Well, thank God. This was going to be really awkward if I had to lie about that the whole time."

"So what is going on here? Really?" Clark asked.

Xander glanced at Riley, who nodded at him once.

"The first thing you need to know is that this is not how we wanted this to go down. I was hoping to befriend you guys, get to know you a little better and then ask you for a huge favor. Unfortunately, our hand was forced last night."

"When your friend was attacked," Clark said.

"Attacked and abducted," Xander said, nodding. "Yes. And we retrieved her. After a quick consult with Riley, we decided to push up the time table."

"So who are you, really?" Clark asked.

"The group I work for _is_ a charity," Xander said. "But not exclusively. Not even primarily, actually. Our main goal is to protect the world from demons, and the evil that they bring."

"Demons," Clark said. The disbelief was evident in his voice.

"I know, it sounds crazy," said Xander. "But this is what we do. Vampires, demons, succubae, incubi, zombies and…" he shook his head. "All the classics."

"Werewolves?" Clark asked with a laugh.

"When they can't be reasoned with," said Riley.

"Ollie, I don't know what you've got yourself mixed up in here," Clark said, "but I don't want any part of it."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Ollie said. "Agent Finn?"

"Last night, the young woman on your kitchen table was attacked," Riley said. "Her name is Dawn Summers, and she works for CWI. She was attacked by elements within the Army, elements that are heavily influenced by Lex Luthor."

"Lex?" Clark asked, leaning forward. "What does he have to do with this?"

"Patty!" Xander called out. A moment later, a pretty young woman jumped in through the window of the loft. Clark looked surprised.

"There are a couple thousand girls worldwide who can do that and a lot more," Xander said. He nodded to Patty, and she did a back flip back out of the barn. Clark leaned out the window and saw her land gracefully on her feet, then run back out into the field faster than she should have been able to.

"We represent, train, house, teach and employ about four-fifths of those girls," Xander continued. "And Luthor wants in on the action, but not to train them."

"We have intelligence that Lex Luthor was running a program in Metropolis that was known by the codename 33.1," said Riley. "We have intelligence that he was, and still is, actively looking for girls like this to experiment on, to dissect, to see how they work."

"As you can imagine, that's not something these guys want to have happen," said Ollie. "Nor do I. And I don't think you'd be too happy about it either."

"I've distrusted Lex for some time now," Clark said. "I used to consider him one of my closest friends, but he's slipped farther and farther into the darkness. I think he may be beyond help. What's so special about these girls?"

"They're magic," Xander said. "Or, at least that's basically the source of their powers. They are hunters. They hunt demons, they track down evil and destroy it. And we help them."

"This is pretty far-fetched," Clark said.

"Come on, Clark. You've lived in this town," said Ollie. "You've seen the meteor freaks. Chloe has been chasing after them for years. Is this really that much harder to believe?"

"Yeah, but demons? Vampires? I mean…"

"I've killed some of them," Ollie said. "With Xander, with Lucy, and their friends. I've been there, Clark. I've seen it. It's real."

"So what does this all have to do with me?" Clark asked.

"Well, first off, it's your house, and I feel we owe you an explanation," Xander said. "And second of all, Ollie has told us that you're close… or at least used to be close with Luthor. We're hoping to get some insight into –"

"Xander!"

Xander sighed and leaned out the window and looked down at one of the Slayers. "Yes?"

"We've stopped a young woman at the top of the drive way, name of Chloe Sullivan."

Xander glanced at Oliver, who nodded.

"Let her in," Xander said. He glanced over to see if Clark was offended that he was making decisions about who could and could not come on to the property.

"How many people do you have out there?" Clark asked, seeming more curious than angry.

"Sixteen," Xander said.

Ollie and Riley whistled. "Wow."

"Wow?" Clark asked. "This is a pretty big farm, that's not that many."

Ollie shook his head. "Clark, you haven't seen these girls in action. For hundreds of years –"

"Thousands," Xander corrected.

"Right, thousands of years, there was only one of these girls at a time charged with keeping the world safe from the forces of evil. Having sixteen active Slayers in an area this small is tantamount to…"

"Invading Delaware with the whole US Army," said Riley.

"Right," said Ollie. "Along those lines. Right at this moment, you're probably in the safest place in America."

Clark raised an eyebrow. "Okay," he said. "If Ollie's willing to vouch for you, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. You've got my attention. So tell me what you want."

"Ollie says you have some experience with Luthor and his projects. 33.1 in particular," Xander said. "We would ask you for any information you could give us on that."

"Okay," Clark said. "Although Chloe's actually the one to talk to there."

Xander looked at Ollie, who nodded.

"And the second thing we need," Riley said, "is your telephone."

* * * * *

"So how long have you known Oliver Queen?" Lois asked.

"Who?" Buffy asked. "Me or Lucy?"

"What the hell, let's go for both of you."

"I've known him for about a year," Buffy said. "Although I think Xander's known him for almost two."

"I've known him for about three months," Lucy said. "Xander introduced me at a dinner in Rome."

"Oh, that was a fun night," Buffy said, smiling. "Your dress was so amazing."

The door opened and Chloe walked in. "What the hell is going on outside?" she asked. She looked at Mel, who was chanting something in Latin, her hand resting softly on Dawn's chest. "Who the hell is this?"

"Over here, Coz," Lois said, waving Chloe over to them.

"There are scary young women outside who are not letting people onto the farm, did you know that?" Chloe asked, pointing. "And there's an unconscious woman on Clark's table. Where is Clark? Where's Xander? What's going on?" She paused, and looked at Buffy. "And who are you?"

"Xander, Clark, Oliver Queen and a guy named Riley Finn are out in the barn," Lucy told her. "And this is Buffy. One of Xander's best friends."

"Hi," Buffy said, waving at Chloe.

"Her sister Dawn is the unconscious girl. And Mel is a witch, who's trying to get Dawn out of whatever it is that's keeping her unconscious."

"A witch?" Chloe asked.

"See," said Buffy, "everybody's minds are so closed these days."

At that point, the boys walked back into the house.

"Chloe," Clark said, smiling at his best friend. "Ollie's got a couple of requests for you."

"Sure," she said. "Whatever. What's going on?"

"Just a minute," Clark said. He picked up the phone and handed it to Riley.

"Thanks," Riley said. He dialed a number and waited. "Hi, Carol. Is the general in?"

"General?" Lois asked Lucy.

Lucy shrugged. "First I've heard of it. Buffy?"

Buffy held up her finger. "In a minute."

"He's in a meeting, I see," Riley said. "Well do me a favor. Get a note to him and tell him that Riley Finn is on the phone. Thanks."

Riley stood there, bobbing his head for a moment before explaining, "I'm on hold."

For a few more minutes everyone stood around waiting, watching Riley. Xander took a look at Dawn again, then sat on the arm of the sofa next to Lucy. He took her hand in his.

"General, hello. I thought you might want to speak to me," Riley said eventually. "I assume by now that you've traced this call and you know where I am, but I'm going to spell it out for you. I am standing in the kitchen of the Kent farm, in Smallville, Kansas. I am here with three very senior members of the Council of Watchers, one of whom is unconscious, and in a magical coma because of the actions of your soldiers, sir."

"More than that, I am standing in this kitchen, sir, and I would like to tell you that in the next room are your daughters, Lois and Lucy, and your niece Chloe." Riley said.

The three girls looked up sharply at that. Lucy looked quickly from Riley to Xander. Xander's face was like stone. Lucy looked from him to Buffy, who was watching Xander and frowning.

"No, sir," Riley said. "We do not intend any harm to come to your family, but sir, we needed to get your attention. Your soldiers have been at odds with these people for some time now, sir, and we feel that it is time to talk. We'll be here until you are."

Riley hung up. "Okay," he said, "well, that's one career on the line tonight."

The room was silent.

Xander looked down at Lucy and saw confusion. He saw pain, and he saw anger. "Sweetheart," he said quietly. "We should probably talk."

Lucy stared at him for a minute, then stormed out of the room, and headed for the barn. Xander followed her.

"So… what?" Lois asked once they'd left. "Are we your prisoners?"

"Not in the least," said Buffy. "You're welcome to leave whenever you want. We needed you here long enough to talk to your dad. That's all."

"Why him?" Clark asked. "Why General Lane?"

"Because he's the one," Oliver said. "Lex Luthor went to the military with requests for specimens for 33.1, and he showed them information that indicated that Xander's group was a terrorist group, and convinced them that if he could just get his hands on a few of these girls, then he could make soldiers for the Army like none they had ever seen."

"But we're not," Buffy said. "We're not terrorists. And if he got his hands on some of our girls, the only thing he'd get would be confused scientists, because the thing that makes us different is not biological, it's mystical. And he would be dissecting young women for no reason other than to sate his own curiosity."

"What's so special about you?" Lois asked.

"It's nothing I can show you easily," said Buffy. "But I'm stronger and faster than anyone you've ever met."

"I don't know," Lois said. "Ollie's pretty strong, he's pretty fast."

"I am," said Ollie. "But with her, I wouldn't even try to compete."

"So why are Lucy and Xander outside?" asked Chloe. "Wasn't she a part of all of this?"

"Yes and no," Buffy said. "She knows about what we do, she knows about the threat from Luthor. She didn't know that your uncle was in charge of the group Luthor works with."

"Oh," said Chloe.

"There's more," said Buffy to her. "You weren't here for it, but Lucy told Lois about how she and Xander first met."

"The whole story," said Lois.

"Well," said Buffy. "The whole story as she knew it. It actually started well before that."

----------

End Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimers, etc., in chapter 1

______________________________________________________

**Outside Cleveland, Ohio**

**July 2006**

"I don't get it," said Louisa.

Vi sighed, and swept her hair behind her left ear. "Okay," she said, pulling the text book closer. "So, when graphing the equation, we find that though the number continuously approach zero, they never quite reach it, right? So what that means is that the limit for this equation –"

"Shh," Faith shushed, holding up a hand.

"Faith, I know you don't care about math but some people need to pass it for –"

"Not that," Faith said. "I think I heard something."

She stood up and walked over to the window, looking out into the darkness. She turned her ear to the window. Vi put the book down on the table and moved to the window next to Faith, Louisa watching them the whole way.

Faith and Vi looked at each other, and Faith glanced slightly upwards. Vi acknowledged with the barest of nods.

"Must be nothing," Faith said, checking her watch. She and Vi turned away from the windows. "You know how paranoid I can get."

"Yup," agreed Vi. "We all know that."

A moment later, two men crashed in through the windows, armored like a SWAT team and carrying guns. The two men were met with vicious kicks from Vi and Faith, sending them both flying back out of the compound.

Instantly, Louisa was up from the couch. She ran to the next room, lifted a plastic case and pressed a small red button inside. There were two clocks under the case as well. One read 8:46, the current time. The other read 8:51, which Louisa reported to Faith and Vi.

"Good, thanks," Faith said. "I heard four more upstairs and at least two in the back." She reached into a nearby cabinet and came away with three six-foot staves. They heard steel shutters slamming shut over the windows all around the house, and a loud siren blared three times.

Outside, Faith knew, the grass was growing at an unnatural rate and tying up the feet of any intruders on the property. The fence surrounding the house was now a magical barrier, almost impenetrable in either direction by man or beast.

For all intents and purposes, the occupants of the house were now sealed inside along with any intruders, who were isolated from whoever they might have left outside. Which was exactly what they wanted.

"You two check upstairs, I'm heading for the back," Faith said, handing Vi and Louisa a staff each. "If the girls haven't taken care of the four I heard up there, then I'm very disappointed in them. Tie 'em up and bring 'em down here. And get that lazy-ass bum out of the shower. Got it?"

Vi and Louisa nodded at her and ran upstairs.

Faith crept around to the back of the house. There were four rooms back here, any one of which could be holding an intruder.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," she sang quietly, dragging her staff along the floor. It was sloppy, she knew, but she wanted whoever was back here to get overconfident.

She paused at the door to the first room and listened for a second before opening it and stepping inside. The glass from the two windows in this room lay on the floor, just as she had expected. Impressions in the carpet showed footprints leading out of the room.

She crossed the hallway into the next room, and found it empty of both people and footprints. Tapping her staff on the floor as she walked, she proceeded to the next room, and just as she suspected, it was empty as well. Right on cue, she heard two guns drawn up to bear on her.

"Turn around," said a male voice that, shaky with nervousness.

Internally, Faith thanked whatever Gods had sent her unprepared intruders. With her sultriest smile, she turned around, swinging the staff up onto her shoulders, with her arms hooked around behind it. This had the effect of lifting the hem of her shirt to expose her well-toned midriff, while at the same time thrusting her breasts forward.

For the slightest moment, both men behind her glanced down at her figure. In that moment, she swung the staff with lightning speed off of her shoulders, catching the first one across the nose, breaking it, and then ramming the second one in the throat, collapsing his windpipe. Both men dropped their guns to grasp at their injuries, and she kicked each in the head, rendering them unconscious.

Leaving her staff resting against a wall, she dragged both men by their collars back into the common room, where the other seven girls in the house had gathered. All eight men who had come into their home were unconscious.

"Add those two to the pile," she said, tossing her charges into the center of the room. Two of the girls immediately moved to secure their weapons and tie them up.

"Vi, Amy, sweep the whole house and make absolutely certain we didn't miss anyone." The two girls nodded.

"Monitor up," Faith said to the air.

The painting hanging above the fireplace shimmered and turned into a screen showing video of the outside. Tangled in the grass were another four men, in addition to the two unconscious ones she and Vi had kicked back outside. They were hacking at the grass with their knives, and having little success.

"What the hell is going on?" Xander asked. He half-stumbled down the stairs, his hair still drenched and a towel wrapped around his waist.

Faith pointed at the pile of men on the floor, and the group of them on the lawn in the picture. "We've been attacked."

"Who by?" Xander asked, turning to the slayers.

The girls stood there a moment, until Faith coughed. Almost as one they started, turning away from Xander's naked torso.

Louisa reached under the shirt of one of the men and held up a set of dog tags. Then she opened a Velcro flap on the man's vest, revealing an American flag.

Xander frowned. "US military? What the hell?"

The sound of a phone ringing came from the screen, and a new window appeared with Willow in the frame. Faith looked at her watch. 8:51. Right on time.

"Hi guys," she said, cheerily. "What's going on?"

"Hey, Will," Xander said. "We appear to have been attacked."

"Why are you half-naked?"

"I was in the shower."

"And you couldn't take the time to throw on some shorts and a t-shirt?" she asked, mock scoldingly. "Xander, there are impressionable young women in that house."

"Are you going to be serious about this?" he asked. "We've just had the American military come through our windows with guns."

"And everyone's fine, they're all captured, and there's no current danger." Willow said. "Right?"

"Okay… yes. Not the point."

"Well, I've signaled the cleaners. They're on the way," she said. "How many were there, by the way?"

"Twelve," Faith said. "Six in here now, six outside on the lawn."

Willow frowned. "That few? That's almost insulting."

"I know, right?" Faith said.

"Well, I guess we should find out what this is about. Xander, do you want to call Riley or should I?"

"I'll call him," Xander said. "See who's responsible for amateur night here."

"Okay," Willow said. She looked off screen for a moment, looking at her computer. "Well, just in case, I'm updating the passphrase. You should get the flash in a second."

Across the bottom of the screen ran the words, "For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother."

"Nice," said one of the girls.

Willow nodded. "Okay, well, you guys get ready for the –"

Her head turned to her computer and she frowned. "Hold on," she said.

Vi and Amy returned to the room and gave Faith thumbs up. Faith nodded at them and looked back at the screen. Willow was yelling something away from the microphone, and was gesturing urgently at somebody. Faith though she could hear a lot of beeping in the background.

"Will?" Xander said. "What's going on?"

"I just got four more alarms," she said. "Dallas, San Diego, Jacksonville, and Queens."

"All over the country," Faith said. "Jesus. What the hell is going on?"

"I can't say for sure," said Willow. "But I think we're under attack. I'll call you back when I know something."

Her picture blinked out and left the group of them all looking at each other.

"Okay," Faith said. "We're officially on security lockdown. Nobody comes in without the passphrase, and we don't leave in groups of less than four. Understood?"

They all nodded.

"So," Vi said, poking one of the unconscious men with her foot. "What do we do with these guys?"

"Get all the info from their dog tags," Xander said. "We need something to give to Riley."

"Xander," said Louisa, "what does it mean if the military's after us?"

Xander smiled at her. "I don't know, but we're going to find out. This right here is nothing. We need to know if this is just a rogue offshoot or if they've got serious people behind them. Get their names and I'll get Riley on it immediately."

Louisa nodded and went to grab some paper.

Faith and Xander locked – well, eye.

"What next?" she asked.

Xander stood there for a moment, looking at her. Then he turned and walked over to the front door.

"Hey, assholes!" he yelled at the men who were still tangled up in the grass. They looked up at him. "You come at us with twelve people? You try to scare us? You have no idea what it is you're dealing with! I think you're going to need a bigger boat!"

He slammed the door and turned back to the girls.

"Toss them outside," he said, pointing to the men on the floor. "And then lock this place down."

"What are you going to do?" Louisa asked.

Xander looked around. "I'm going to put on some pants."

* * * * *

**Now**

**Smallville, Kansas**

"So then we tried for over a year to get at your father," Buffy told Lois. "But we never had any success, so we started trying to figure out how to get at him through other means. Your father is an honorable man, and we knew bribes wouldn't work. So we looked for what else might."

"Which is how you found us," Lois said.

Buffy nodded. "Because it turns out, there is something that your dad loves more than his country, and that's the two of you. So we found Lucy, followed her, learned about her, and set our snare."

* * * * *

**Six months ago**

**Prague, Czech Republic**

"Okay," Buffy said into her headset. She was sitting in a white van down the street from the police department. There were monitors and speakers and all sorts of equipment she didn't understand, but Andrew was there to run it all. "We've got eyes on the target. Xander, you're up."

Buffy watched as Xander engaged Lucy Lane in small talk, listening from a small microphone that was placed in his breast pocket. She had to give it to him. He'd grown up a lot since high school, and he definitely had a way with the ladies, now.

"Faith," she said. "You're up."

On another monitor, she watched Faith start up her motorcycle and drive down the street. Buffy placed her hand over the microphone.

"Where are we on Kamila?" she asked Andrew. He tapped a few keys and brought up a new camera.

"Mr. Giles is with her," Andrew said. "She's in make-up, and her clothes are in process."

"And Ms. Lane's hotel?"

"Her boyfriend's assets have been frozen by the government," Andrew said. "She'll be able to get her things from the room, but she can't stay there. We paid off the management, just to make sure."

Buffy nodded. On her monitor, Xander hopped onto the back of Faith's motorcycle and they rode off.

"Okay," Buffy said into her microphone. "Phase one is complete, the trap has been set. Andrew and I will stay on Ms. Lane. Robin, send a cab on up. Xander."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, with a healthy amount of sarcasm.

Buffy smiled. "You did good."

"You're just jealous I never broke out the ol' Xander charm on you," he said.

"Sure you did," she said, watching a taxi come down the street. "But I was sixteen, and foolish beyond my years."

"Jesus, you two," said Faith. "Just screw already and get it over with."

Buffy thought about that for a moment, shook her head and smiled.

* * * * *

**Smallville**

**Now**

"This was our opportunity," Buffy said. "We couldn't let it pass. So we brought her in, and kept her close. We did honestly come to like her, and she really has helped us out a lot."

"But you also lied to her," Chloe said.

Buffy nodded. "Every day."

"What about Xander?" Lois asked, angrily. "What about his feelings, were they all just a lie? Did he just string my sister along until he was able to get both of us in a room together, and get his military buddies to call our father?"

Buffy took a deep breath, then released it. "No," she said. "In fact, when he offered her the job, the only line he improvised was when he said she was cute. I've known Xander a very long time. Our best friend, Willow, has known him longer, since he was five. And I can tell you with complete certainty that he is in love with your sister."

"And yet he'd do all this, set her up like this, lie to her like this," said Lois.

"Yeah," Ollie said. Lois looked at him. "Because some things are more important than how we feel about someone. How much we care about them. Some things are so important, that no matter how much we love someone, they have to come second."

Lois deflated.

Buffy leaned forward and took Lois's hands in hers. "It doesn't always work out that way, though. And I really hope that your sister and Xander can work this out, because he really does love her. We're all very fond of her."

She shook her head. "Kind of a first for Xander's girlfriends, actually."

----------

End Chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimers, etc., in chapter 1

______________________________________________________

"So," Lucy said. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she was glaring at Xander. "You used me."

"Yeah," Xander said. He kicked at a stone on the floor of the barn. "We did. I'm sorry."

"What does my father have to do with any of this?"

"He's working with Luthor," Xander said. "We know enough to know that he doesn't want to be, but at the moment he doesn't have any choice. We're hoping to provide him with evidence he can use to discredit Luthor, and get his people away. But the soldiers who attacked Dawn yesterday, the ones who came into her home, injured and subdued her bodyguards and kidnapped her, they worked for your father, and for Lex Luthor."

"How long have you known?"

"About your dad? A little under two years," he said. "Riley informed us of what was going on, and we started to feel hits from them a month after that. They were trying to abduct Slayers, trying to experiment on them. Dissect them. Kill them. Lucky for us, they had underestimated just how good our Slayers are. Gave us time to adapt, and stay out of the way a bit more when we needed to."

"And Prague," Lucy said. "How much of that was real?"

"Almost none of it," Xander said. "Although your boyfriend was actually a drug dealer. The rest of it – the murder, the kidnapping, me being arrested. All of it was orchestrated and planned. We had surveillance teams and technical teams making sure everything went smoothly."

"And what about us, Xander? Was everything a lie?"

Xander shook his head. "Lucy," he said, "every single day that I have known you, I have lied to you about one thing or another. But I never once lied about my feelings for you."

"How can I believe that?" she asked.

"I don't know," Xander said. "I guess I don't really expect you to. We used you for information, for opportunity, to get to your sister, your cousin, and your father. We lied to you, and we held things back. And you should know that I'd do it again if I had to. This is too important."

"Oh, _this_ is too important?" she asked angrily. "All these girls are too important, more than me, the woman you claim to love."

"Yeah," Xander said. "More important than you, more important than me, more important than Dawn or Buffy or Willow or Giles. You think I'm happy with this? You think I didn't beat myself up over it? We **had** to do this, Lucy. We had no choice."

"Why?" she asked. "Why, exactly, is this so important to you?"

Xander deflated a little. "Because it's our fault."

"Bullshit," Lucy said. "You didn't ask Lex to come after them."

"But we made them what they are," he said. "It was our need, our decision that made these girls Slayers. That made them targets. If not for us, they would have lived out their lives without being exposed to all of these dangers. We are _responsible_ for what happens to them."

Xander shook his head. "We tried contacting your dad through legitimate channels. We tried bribing people. We tried going through side avenues, and all sorts of other things. For a i_year/i_ we tried. All of it got us nothing. So we looked for another option."

"And you found me," she said.

"Yes."

"And you didn't think you could trust me enough. After what you've shown me, after what we've been through with these girls, after everything we've done, you didn't think you could trust me with this," she said.

"We couldn't take the chance."

Lucy turned away from him, walked over and fiddled with something on the tractor.

"Lucy," he said. He walked up behind her and slid his hands onto her arms. "I don't want to lose you. I love you."

"Who made the decision?" she asked. "Who was it who said that I couldn't be trusted?"

Xander shrugged. "In the end, what it comes down to is that I did. Because no matter what the others said, no matter if they were unanimous in not trusting you, or if they were split down the middle, I could have told you anyway. And I didn't. This one is on me."

She shrugged his hands off of her shoulders. "You should go inside," she said.

"Can you…" he started. "Where are we?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. But you being here right now is making me so angry I could scream. So go."

Xander stepped back from her. He paused, started to say something, then thought better of it and headed back to the house.

* * * * *

"Clark," Buffy said. "Do you have a minute?"

Xander had come back inside looking decidedly depressed, and was in no mood to be cheered, either. Lois had gone out to the barn to console her sister, and Chloe and Oliver were doing something on Chloe's computer that Buffy didn't really understand.

That left her and Clark. And she definitely needed to talk to him.

"Um, sure, I guess," he said.

"Out front?" she asked.

Clark shrugged and led her out the front door onto the porch. "Can I ask you a question?" he asked, once they were alone.

"Sure," she said. "What's up?"

"I was just wondering… how did Xander and Oliver meet? It doesn't seem like they'd run in the same circles."

Buffy smiled. "That depends on which circles you're talking about."

"Lex?" Clark asked.

"The tie that binds," Buffy said. "Soon after we'd been attacked that first time, Riley found out who was after us. Xander was in Denmark staking out one of Lex's facilities that we thought might be involved in his experiments. All of a sudden, part of it goes up in flames. Big explosion."

"That sounds like Ollie."

Buffy nodded. "Xander sees a guy in a green mask – very suspicious – limping out of the building. Guy falls down unconscious and instead of, like most normal people, ignoring him and fleeing the scene, he gets out of his car, grabs the guy and tosses him into the back of his car. Drives him to his hotel."

"Finds out who he's got when he takes off the mask."

"Oh, lord no," Buffy said. "And don't let Xander hear you suggest that. He's far too much of a comic book nerd to do something like that. But about an hour later, Xander's hotel door explodes open and a young kid in red and a… well, a cyborg, burst into Xander's room, ready to beat him up."

"Okay."

"Well, by this time, Xander has set Ollie at ease, and Ollie had outed himself. Anyway, some of the heat from the explosion had kind of melted Ollie's suit onto his back. So the guys burst in, and see Ollie on the bed, and Xander's behind him with a knife, peeling strips of leather off his back. And Ollie's screaming in pain, and bleeding."

"Oh, no," Clark said.

Buffy smiled at his earnestness.

"So there's a fight. This is actually why Xander has bodyguards now."

"Those two girls in the museum!" Clark said.

"I don't know about a museum, but if you saw two girls following him, that was probably them."

"Was he okay after the fight?" Clark asked.

"Xander was fine. Apparently Ollie is really good at throwing things, not just with a bow and arrow. So about ten minutes later, instead of peeling leather off of Ollie's back, Xander's picking glass shards out of the little guy's forehead from the ashtray Ollie hit him with, and Ollie was patching up the robot-guy, and the police bust in and arrest all of them."

"Oh man."

"Right. Anyway, there's a lot more stuff, and Ollie had to basically call in a lot of favors to keep it from being an international incident. So they bonded."

"Wow," Clark said. "That's kind of crazy."

"This is our life."

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Clark asked.

Buffy smiled. "Okay, well you seem like a really nice guy," she said. "With all of Lucy's opinions on people, she really didn't have a bad thing to say about you, with the possible exception of your wardrobe. But you seem like a good guy. So I really hope you won't take this the wrong way."

"Take what?" he asked.

She punched him in the stomach.

"Ow, God!" she said, walking around the porch waving her hand up and down in pain. "i_Jesus/i_, I didn't think it would hurt that much. I think I dislocated a finger!"

"Uh, I can explain," he said. "I have this condition where –"

Buffy waved him off. She took a deep breath and yanked her finger back into its socket with an audible pop that made Clark wince.

"Man, I haven't had to do that in years," she said, still waving her hand around.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine," she said. "Just not used to that. Wow. Okay. I don't know if you remember what Riley said on the phone, but he called us the Council of Watchers."

"I remember," Clark said.

"Back when there was only one Slayer, instead of a lot of us – and I'm not going into that right now, by the way, it's just too long a story – there was a whole council full of wealthy people, mostly men, mostly white. They trained the Slayer to save the world, and kept a journal of everything that happened while they did it.

"But field watchers weren't the only ones who kept journals. So did our researchers and librarians, archaeologists and religious historians."

"Okay," Clark said. "I'm not sure what –"

"I'm getting there," Buffy said. "So anyway, when my friends and I took over this little endeavor six years ago, the biggest resource we had – because we had very little at that time – was these journals, so we spent a lot of long, boring hours poring over them.

"We ran across an entry in one of the journals, speaking of a prophecy of a being from another planet, a being of immense power. One who could change the world. The prophecy referred to this being as The Traveler."

"Why are you telling me this?" Clark asked.

Buffy smiled. "You're good at that. Okay, so we did a lot of checking, and this was the only reference to this Traveler that we found. Until about four weeks ago, when our advance team came here to Smallville –"

"You've had people here for a _month_?" Clark asked.

"We're very good at what we do," Buffy said. "And part of that is because we have learned to be very thorough. In any event, when looking through the history of this town, one of our team members came across a single mention of a group called Veritas. More digging turned up four members of this group: Lionel Luthor, Virgil Swann, Robert Queen and Edward Teague.

"And the reason that is important, Clark, is that the watcher whose journal we found this prophecy in was named Desmond Teague," she said. "Edward's brother."

"What was the point of telling me all this?" Clark asked.

Buffy hopped up on the porch railing, letting her feet swing in the gaps. "Look, you're obviously not going to admit to anything, and that's cool. After our people found out about Veritas, we thought we might run into this Traveler while we were here in Smallville. It kind of clicked for me when Mel said there was a huge source of power that was disrupting her. I know Mel pretty well, and she has a definite tendency towards the understatement.

"So I guess the point of all this was to let you know that we know. And… that we're going to be watching."

Clark crossed his arms. "If I am this Traveler," he said, "which, I'm not admitting, but just hypothetically."

"Of course."

"If I have this power to change the world… if I wanted to do something, how would you go about stopping me?"

Buffy looked at him for a second and then laughed. "You see?" she said. "This is why I generally leave the talky parts to Willow and Giles. I always mess it up." She shook her head. "The prophecy said you would usher in a new era of hope for humanity. That you would be a symbol known the world around to stand for truth and justice. That you would be this planet's greatest defender, and battle evil in all its forms.

"We don't want to stop you, Clark," she said, looking him straight in the eyes. "We want to do everything we can to help."

The two of them looked out over the fields. Off in the distance, a small light was shining well above the corn, and it was getting closer.

"That'll be General Lane," Buffy said. "Guess it's time to get this show started."

----------

End Chapter 8


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimers, etc., in chapter 1

______________________________________________________

Xander glanced back at the house. Lois, Lucy, Chloe and Clark were watching from the porch as sixteen young women stood in a circle around the spot where an Army helicopter was landing. Xander turned back to the helicopter. It touched down in the field, and two large young men with large weapons and crew cuts stepped off of the helicopter.

Directly after them was a middle-aged man with thinning hair. He wasn't a large man, but he held himself with the confidence of someone who knew exactly what he was capable of.

Riley, by consensus, was the first to approach him. He walked forward a few feet, came to attention and saluted. General Lane sized him up for a moment before returning the salute in kind.

"Agent Finn," said Lane.

"General Lane," said Riley. He turned in his spot and escorted the general to the edge of the circle. "Allow me to introduce to you, sir, Buffy Summers and Alexander Harris of the Council of Watchers, and Oliver Queen of Queen Industries."

General Lane nodded at each of them in turn.

"Nice to meet you all," he said. He turned to Riley. "I'm not discussing a damn thing with you people until I see that my family is safe."

"Of course, sir," Riley said. He held out a hand to in the direction of the house. "If you'll come this way…."

General Lane nodded, and allowed Riley to escort him up to the house. Riley took him up to the porch, and then walked back to the driveway, where the others had gathered to wait until the General was done speaking to his family.

General Lane stepped up onto the porch. "Mr. Kent," he said, nodding to Clark.

"General," said Clark.

The General turned to his daughters and niece. "Girls."

"General," said Lois and Chloe.

"Hi, Daddy," said Lucy.

The General stepped towards them. "How are you?"

"We're fine, Dad," said Lois.

"They've treated you well?"

"Mostly," said Lois. "Unless you count lying."

"And being bastards," said Lucy.

"Bastards?" asked the General.

Lois shook her head. "It's a personal thing, dad. Don't worry about it."

"But they didn't hurt you," he said.

"They never touched us," said Lois. "And they didn't hold us against our will, either."

"What?" he asked. "But Agent Finn said –"

"Riley was very precise," said Lucy. "Riley is… always very precise. He told you that we were in the next room. We were. That's all."

"But I thought –"

"We were talking in the barn," said Clark. "And Agent Finn asked if he could use the phone, and he called you, sir."

"Before that we were having a lovely chat over an unconscious girl and a witch," said Lois.

"Which one was unconscious?" General Lane asked.

"Dawn is," said Lucy. "Buffy's little sister. She's still out, actually. Daddy, is it true you're working with Lex Luthor?"

"Excuse me?"

"Xander said you were working with Luthor, and –"

"_Xander_ said," the General repeated. "_Xander _said? And how exactly do you know _Xander_?"

Lucy looked up and right at her father. "He's my boyfriend," she said.

The General turned to Lois. "Did you know about this?"

"Did _I _know?" Lois asked. "What exactly would I have done?"

"I explicitly told you that –"

"Jesus, Daddy," said Lucy. "Can you at least pretend that you remember I'm not fourteen anymore? I've been on my own for years, now, getting myself out of hairier situations than Lois has ever been in. I think I'm old enough to pick who I date."

General Lane pointed to the one-eyed man in the driveway. "And you picked _him_?"

Lucy stepped up to her father. "Xander is a good man," she said. "He loves me, he treats me well and he does good work with the –"

"Good work?" he said incredulously. "Lucy, that man over there is one of the leading members of one of the most violent, unpredictable and dangerous terrorist organizations in the _world._ That one-eyed freak has more –"

Lucy smacked him. Lois and Chloe each took a step back.

"You don't know anything about him, or his organization," Lucy said, her finger wavering in his face. "And you don't get to ignore us for years at a time, and then fly in here in your helicopter pretending like you give a damn." Lucy glared at him for another second, and then stormed off into the house.

The General looked up at Lois, who was having a hard time keeping the humor out of her eyes.

"What?" General Lane growled at her.

Lois shrugged. "Just a little surprised," she said. "I always thought that, after all these years, I'd be the one to tell you off. Come on, Chloe." Lois turned and followed her sister inside. Chloe shrugged weakly at her uncle and went in after them, leaving Clark and the General alone on the porch.

Clark smiled weakly.

"I suppose you have an opinion, too," said General Lane.

Clark shrugged. "I've only known Xander for a few days," he said. "He seems like a good enough guy, but I really don't know anything about his work. I do know Oliver, though, and so does Lois. Neither of us believes he'd be wrapped up in anything involving terrorists."

"Lois knows Queen?"

"They um… dated, actually."

"Was it serious?" the General asked.

"Serious enough," Clark said.

"And he trusts these people."

"He does. Is it true, General? Are you working with Lex Luthor?"

"That's not something I'm allowed to discuss, son."

Clark nodded. "Well, I know you've had some dealings with Lex before, but he's changed since then," he said. "If you _are_ involved with him, you should know that he doesn't care about anything except his own goals. If he's trying to experiment on these young girls, I can guarantee you it's not because he wants to build a better soldier, or because he's interested in the security of this country."

"You know something."

"I don't know anything specific, sir," Clark said. "But with Lex, there's always a hidden agenda."

General Lane nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you." He started down the steps toward the driveway when Clark called him back.

"General," Clark said. "I know this is none of my business, but Lucy really does seem very fond of Xander. And what I know of him tells me he's not a bad person."

"That's not the same thing as being a good person."

"No, it's not," Clark said. "But if you're dealing with Lex Luthor, it's usually good enough."

The General considered Clark for a moment, then turned and walked to the others in the driveway. When he reached them, they all turned and walked into Clark's barn.

Clark wanted to stay outside and listen to what was said, find out what Lois's dad was up to, what Xander's group was up to, who Riley really was and what Oliver was doing mixed up in all of it.

He sighed, and headed inside. He could quiz Oliver about it later, or maybe even Buffy. But despite Lois's humor at her sister's blow-up, Clark knew his friend was not happy with the situation. And sometimes his friends had to come first.

* * * * *

General Lane stepped into the barn, walked over to a crate and sat down on it. Buffy, Xander, Riley and Oliver stood in a semi-circle around him.

"Okay," he said. "You got me here. Talk."

"Last night, at about three am, approximately fifteen soldiers under your command stormed the house where my sister lives and abducted her," Buffy said. "Through magical means, they placed her in a coma, and took her to a hidden warehouse underground in Chicago, where we eventually retrieved her."

"I'm aware of all that," General Lane said. "I would like you to know that that particular operation was not authorized by me. One of our… civilian contractors was involved."

"We're well aware of Lex Luthor's involvement, General Lane," said Oliver. He placed a briefcase on one of the haystacks, took some papers out and handed them to the General. "And we're also well aware of exactly what it is that goes on inside his 33.1 project."

General Lane looked up at him. "You know about 33.1," he said. He started looking at the papers.

"General," said Buffy, stepping forward. "We know about a lot more than that. You have been told by your superiors – who have been convinced by Lex Luthor – that we are perhaps the greatest supernatural or superhuman threat to this country. Possibly the world. Am I correct?"

General Lane nodded, still reading.

"And you don't entirely believe him, do you?" she asked.

General Lane looked up. "What makes you think that?"

"Because you've held back," said Buffy. "You've had opportunities to make gains and you haven't taken them. You have enough men and women under your command to really make our lives hell, and you haven't. You haven't even gone after any of the girls who aren't a part of our organization, even though they would work just as well for Luthor's needs."

"We're not going to convince you overnight, General," Xander said. "We know –"

The General stood up. "You don't talk," he said, pointing at Xander angrily. They all took a step back, surprised at his forcefulness. "You used my daughter. I don't care who you think you are, you don't come at me through my family. If you say another word, I walk. Understood?"

Xander opened his mouth to defend himself, but instead raised his hands in surrender and walked over to lean against a wall, General Lane glaring daggers at him the whole way.

The others shared a quick glance, and Riley stepped forward.

"General, I've known these people for years. They've saved my bacon more than once. And I don't mean to brag sir, but you know that that means something. They saved my people from the snafu with Maggie Walsh."

General Lane stared at Xander for another second, before turning to Riley. "You were involved in that mess?"

"For a while, I was the lead military man on site, sir," he said. He nodded at Buffy. "These folks turned what would have been an all-out massacre into a mere embarrassment, and saved a lot of lives doing it."

"We've made mistakes, sir," Buffy said. "We're not perfect, and we don't claim to be. But we're interested in helping people, in saving the world. Not in destroying it. We think you are, too, and we hope that that information is enough to at least put Luthor out of favor with your bosses. If it's not, well, I'm sure we can get more."

"My bosses," he said. "I am a three-star general in the United States Army. Just how many bosses do you suppose I have?"

Buffy shrugged. "I have no idea," she said. "One would be enough, and I'm pretty sure there's still that guy in the White House. But you're the man in a position to do something. We've given you information telling you what Luthor is really up to, and what we think he intends to do. As well as how to get in direct contact with us if you have to."

"Direct contact?" General Lane asked, flipping to the back of the packet. "Including… addresses, it looks like."

"This is the endgame, General," Buffy said, "and a game like this requires trust. If it keeps up, eventually, you'll win. You'll start getting our girls, and Luthor will have his experiments. So this is us. Putting our lives in your hands, and standing right in your crosshairs, wondering if you'll shoot, and hoping to God we haven't misjudged you. We're taking the first step, and praying it isn't our last."

The General considered her for a moment. "This information," he said, waving the papers Ollie had given to him. "I don't suppose there's any way to get this verified?"

"Oh, you mean from an independent source?" Ollie asked. "Someone who doesn't work for the Council, who doesn't know what they do? Who has no reason to try to deceive you?"

"Frankly, yes," said the General. "Someone like that."

"How about someone about… this tall?" he asked, holding his hand a couple of inches above Buffy's head, as she looked up and scowled at his hand. "Someone blonde? Cute? Used to work for a major daily newspaper? Related to you?"

General Lane considered him. "This came from Chloe."

"What can I tell you, General, the girl's a prodigy," Ollie said.

The General looked at him for a moment, and then stood up. He walked out of the barn and stalked into the house. Lois and Chloe looked up as he slammed the door shut.

"Oliver Queen," he said to Lois. "Do you trust him?"

"Absolutely," Lois said. "No question."

He turned to Chloe and held the papers out to her. "And you found this information?"

Chloe looked up at Clark, then Lois, then back to the General. "I… yes, sir."

General Lane looked around, and saw Lucy on the couch in the living room. He walked over to her, and saw the redness in her eyes. He knelt down in front of her and took her hands in his.

"Sweetheart," he said. She looked up at him, still angry. "I am sorry I couldn't be here for you more often, and that I made you and your sister grow up too quickly." He shook his head. "Some people aren't cut out for parenting, and I'm sorry that I couldn't be a better father to you two. It's a testament to both of you that you've turned out as well as you have. I love both of you, very much. More than anything. Do you believe me?"

Lucy nodded.

"I need to know something," he said. "This man, Harris. Is he a good man? Do you trust his people, and the work that they do? Do you trust him?"

Lucy looked up at her father, closed her eyes and chuckled softly. "Daddy," she said. "I love him."

Sam Lane took a deep breath, stood up fully and headed for the door. He paused in the kitchen.

"The girl," he said. "The one they brought in. Where is she?"

"Upstairs," Lois said. "I can take you up there if you don't believe them."

General Lane shook his head. "That won't be necessary." He stepped over and opened the door, then turned back to them. "Stay safe, all of you," he said.

The General stepped out into the yard, and headed for the barn, where the others were still waiting. He looked around at them. "Very well," he said. "I can't promise you any results, but you're right. I don't trust Lex Luthor. With any luck, this information will convince my superiors that he's not the one we want to throw in with."

"That's all we ask," Ollie said.

General Lane turned and walked up to where Xander was still leaning against a wall. Xander straightened up as General Lane got in his face, but he did not flinch.

"If so much as one hair on my daughter's head is injured by being involved with you… if she sheds one single tear out of anything but joy or laughter… if you ever treat her as anything less than the absolute princess she is, I will not hesitate for one second to hunt you down and make you wish I would kill you, do you understand me, son?"

Xander nodded, and the General backed up a step.

"Now. My daughter tells me that she loves you," he said. Xander couldn't keep the surprise from his face. "I suppose that means I'm going to have to get to know you better sometime."

"I hope so, sir," Xander said.

General Lane nodded. "Well then. I'll be in touch."

He strode out of the barn and off to his helicopter, and the four people in the barn breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"Okay," Xander said, pointing the direction the General had walked off in. "That is one scary son of a bitch."

Buffy smiled at him, and then held her hand out to him, and he took it.

"Come on," she said. "Let's go check on Dawn."

----------

End Chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimers, etc., in chapter 1

______________________________________________________

"I just don't have the skill set," Mel said. Buffy was seated next to the bed they had moved Dawn to, holding Dawn's hand in her own. "I can't even figure out what it is that's wrong with her. It doesn't seem to be magical."

"So she's actually in a coma?" Xander asked.

Mel shrugged. "I don't know. All I do know is that there's nothing I can do for her. Is Willow…?"

Buffy shook her head. "Not for a few days, at least. She's dealing with some ancient evil cult in some catacombs outside of Moscow, or something like that."

"It's always something."

Buffy, Xander and Mel looked up and saw Chloe standing at the door to the bedroom. "Hi," she said. "Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I just… wanted to see how she was doing."

Mel shrugged. "No change as far as I can tell."

"Do you mind… can I speak to Buffy and Xander alone?" she asked.

Mel looked at Buffy, who nodded shortly. Mel stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her as she went.

"What can we do for you?" Xander asked.

"Actually," she said, "I'm thinking I might be able to do something for you. Clark told me you had a chat."

"We did?" Xander asked.

"We did. Traveler?"

"Oh," Xander said. He thought about it for a second. "Oh! Oh. Huh. Wow. Okay. Did you…?"

"We're good," said Buffy.

Xander nodded, and turned to Chloe. "So?"

Chloe wrung her hands in front of her. "I know Lucy trusts you guys. Basically, I mean. Current deceptions notwithstanding."

"Understood," said Buffy.

"That's not really enough for me," Chloe said. She was pacing back and forth between along the length of the bed. "It may be for Clark, and that's fine. But I'm too invested in him, in his work, in his… life to let anybody endanger him."

"Okay," Buffy said. "We certainly understand the need for secrecy. And the desire to protect your loved ones. What did you have in mind?"

Chloe looked up at her, then reached out and laid her hand on Dawn's chest. "Making sure you owe me."

White light poured from Chloe's hand, and emanated from Dawn's chest, bathing the room in an eerie, ethereal glow. Buffy and Xander shielded their eyes. A moment later, the light was gone, and Chloe was slumped over Dawn.

Dawn, who was very slowly coming around to consciousness. Xander carefully pulled Chloe away from Dawn, and checked her pulse.

"Buffy?" Dawn asked, rubbing her eyes to wake up. "Where am I?"

"Uh, Buff," Xander said, picking Chloe up in his arms. "She's not breathing."

"Come on," Buffy said, pulling her sister up off of the bed. "You need to get up." She turned to the door and yelled, "Clark!"

Dawn looked over and saw Xander holding Chloe. "Who's that?"

"The girl who woke you up," said Buffy. She held Dawn up as Xander put Chloe down on the bed. He listened at her chest again and shook his head at Buffy, who was helping her sister stand.

A second later, the door burst open and Clark came inside.

"What happened?" he asked.

"She healed Dawn, somehow," Xander said. Clark looked at Dawn for a moment, and then checked on Chloe. "She's not breathing," Xander told him.

"Was… was there a white light?" Clark asked, feeling for Chloe's pulse on his own.

"Yeah," said Buffy. "It was really bright."

"She needs to go back to her apartment," Clark said. "She's not dead, it just seems like she is. She… has this power, but it drains her. How long depends on what she heals."

"Will she be okay alone at her apartment?" Xander asked.

"She won't be alone," Clark said, glancing at the clock. "Her boyfriend should be home. He knows about her power, he can take care of her. But Lois and Lucy don't know."

"We can get her there," Xander said. He opened the window and whistled. A moment later, Patty appeared at the window.

"Yeah, boss," she said.

Xander pointed to Chloe. "I need you and one other girl to take her car and drive her home," he said. "Her boyfriend should be there. Tell him…"

Xander looked at Clark. "What should they tell him?"

"Tell him that Clark says Chloe helped out a friend, and needs to be looked after," he said. "And that I'll fill him in later."

Patty nodded and waved over another girl. Between them, they got Chloe out of the bedroom and down to the ground.

"Don't they need directions?" Clark asked.

Buffy shook her head. "Been here a month, remember?"

"Okay," Dawn said when the girls were gone. "I think I've missed a lot."

"Yeah," said Buffy. "I'll fill you in in a minute. For now, you need to know that the young woman who just healed you is Lucy's cousin, Chloe. Lucy's sister Lois, along with Ollie, Riley and Mel are downstairs. And this," she said, pointing to Clark, "is Clark Kent. Our host."

"Hi," Dawn said, smiling at him.

Clark nodded. "Hi."

"Well," Xander said. "I'm gonna see if I can go do some more damage control." He hugged Dawn. "Welcome back to the land of the waking."

Dawn hugged him back and let him go.

"Damage control from what?" Dawn asked.

"We had to do the big reveal tonight," Buffy said. She shook her head. "Lucy was not happy."

Dawn bit her lower lip. "They going to be okay?"

"I don't know, sweetie," Buffy said.

"I hope they do," Dawn said. "He's so happy with her."

"Yeah," Buffy said, sighing. "I know."

* * * * *

"You told your dad that you love me."

"I did," Lucy said. She and Xander were in the barn again, away from prying eyes and curious ears. "I do. But you lied to me. And not like a little, no consequences lie. This was a huge lie, Xander. You used me to get to my father. Everything… the whole foundation here is false."

"I know," he said. "Well, I know some of that. I don't think that what we've built on is a lie."

"How can you say that?" she asked. "Everything about how we met, about what you were doing there, that's all a lie."

"But that's not what… that's not what's important, Lucy," he said. "What's important is that you know me. You know what kind of a man I am, you know what I do – all of it, now – and that I love you. You believe that much, right?"

Lucy nodded. "You know I do. But there has to be trust. And I can't trust you right now."

"I know," he said.

They sat there, silent, for a minute.

"Did you get what you needed?"

"What?" he asked.

"From my dad. Did you get what you needed?"

"He's going to show Chloe's intel to his superiors," Xander said. "Beyond that, he can't promise anything."

Lucy nodded, and they were silent again.

"So where does this leave us?" Xander asked, eventually.

Lucy shook her head. "I can't go back with you. Not now. I need… I need time to figure things out."

Xander nodded. "Are you going to stay here?"

"For a little while," she said. "But I need you to give me space. And time. Don't come looking for me."

"Can I call?"

Lucy shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "I just… I can't deal with you right now."

"Okay," Xander said. "I understand. And I'm sorry, too. For all of it."

Lucy said nothing.

"I really do love you," he said.

"I know you do, Xander," she replied, turning away from him. She wiped away a tear from her cheek. "Please go."

Xander wanted to say something. Something that would fix it. He wanted to reach out to her, and hold her in his arms and assure her that nothing like this would ever happen again. To kiss her, and wipe away any doubts she might have about him.

He turned and walked out of the barn.

* * * * *

The Slayers had all packed up and left. Riley and Mel had taken off in the helicopter. Buffy, Dawn and Oliver were just waiting for Xander to pack up his things, and then they would take their leave of the Kent farm. Ollie was giving them a place to stay for the night.

"I hope those two kids work things out," Ollie said. He, Buffy and Dawn were leaning against his limo.

"Me too," said Dawn.

"Yeah," said Buffy. "Me too."

Ollie and Dawn both looked at her.

"What?"

Ollie shook his head, rolled his eyes and got into the limo.

"What?" Buffy asked Dawn.

"You're not fooling anyone," Dawn said. "Well, not anybody who isn't named Xander Harris."

"Fooling them with what?" Buffy asked.

"Buffy everybody other than Xander knows you like him. I know. Willow knows. Giles knows. Ollie knows. Hell, Lucy probably knows."

Buffy opened her mouth, intent on denying everything.

"Jesus, Buffy," Dawn said before Buffy could start. "I was there in Prague, you know."

* * * * *

**Prague, Czech Republic  
Six Months Ago**

"Here," Buffy said. She was sitting on Xander's bed, helping him with his clothes selection for impressing Lucy Lane. She held out a dark blue dress shirt. "I always liked you in the blue one. It's very suave. You pull it off well."

"Yeah?" Xander asked. He stepped out from the bathroom shirtless, and Buffy's breath caught in her throat. He took the shirt from her. "Ah, and my undershirt," he said.

He reached around behind her and tried to pick up his undershirt, and found Buffy was sitting on it. "Oh, okay," he said. "Well, there's only one cure for this." He dropped his dress shirt, picked Buffy up by her waist and tossed her over his shoulder.

"Xander, put me down!" she said, grinning and laughing, slapping weakly at his back, and flailing her legs.

In the corner, Dawn eyed her sister suspiciously. That couldn't be…. A voice chirped in her ear.

"Okay guys," she said, calling an end to their antics. "Lucy's on the approach. Five minutes."

"Damn, I need to get dressed," Xander said. He placed Buffy back on the bed, winked at her, then grabbed his shirts and stepped back into the bathroom.

"Yeah," Buffy mumbled. "Damn."

A few minutes later, Xander reappeared wearing his suit, the dark blue dress shirt, and a mahogany tie that made him look every inch the wealthy businessman. "How's it play?" he asked, twirling for them.

Dawn and Buffy both made a show of whistling and making cat calls. Xander bowed with a flourish just as the telephone rang. Xander picked it up, and informed the desk clerk that he'd be down in a moment.

"Okay," he said with a deep breath. "Off I go."

"One second," Buffy said. She walked up to him and straightened his tie, then leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.

He looked at her curiously.

"For luck," she explained.

Xander laughed. "Ah, so you're playing the sister now, and I'm about to swing us over a deep chasm that could either lead to safety, or our eventual doom. Well played, madam."

Xander smiled at both of them, then walked out of the room, not noticing the slump in Buffy's shoulders.

But Dawn did.

"The sister?" Buffy asked, turning to look at Dawn.

"Leia to his Luke," Dawn explained. "She says that in Star Wars, when they're about to –"

"Swing across the chasm in the Death Star, I remember now," Buffy said. She sighed. "We better get this place cleaned up and head out the back. Can't let her see us."

Dawn nodded at her sister, and gathered her things, filing the information away for another day.

* * * * *

**Smallville, Kansas  
Now**

"That wasn't –" Buffy started.

"And then," interrupted Dawn, "I was there in Rome."

* * * * *

**Rome, Italy  
Three months ago**

Xander and Lucy had flown in for a few meetings, and Dawn had managed to get some time off from her doctoral work as well. It was as good a time as any for her to actually meet Lucy, and spend some quality time with Buffy.

After a delicious dinner, during which Lucy was not only surprisingly intelligent, but also very charming, the four of them headed out to a club. Xander was immediately the envy of every other guy there.

The envy wore off a little – and only a little – when it became clear that his eyes were trained only on Lucy, and as far as he was concerned Dawn and Buffy barely registered. It was obvious to the other dancers, and to the bartenders, and to Dawn, and most especially to Buffy, that Xander Harris was head over heels for Lucy Lane.

It was equally obvious to most of them that Buffy was not happy about it.

"Come on, sis!" Dawn said, trying unsuccessfully to drag Buffy away from the bar. Buffy had turned down or merely ignored advances from almost a dozen gorgeous men, and spent most of the night staring at Xander and Lucy.

But, Dawn noted, it wasn't the angry glare. The one Buffy got when she felt someone was coming in and taking her friends away. It wasn't the look that said "You have what I want, and I'm going to do whatever I can to take it from you."

Instead it was a mixture. Loneliness and sadness, regret and, unless Dawn was completely off, longing.

That was when Dawn realized that somewhere along the line, somewhere between Africa and Prague, Xander and Buffy had switched places. Xander had placed Buffy firmly in the 'friend' category (although, really, more like 'chosen family') while at the same time he had inspired her to knock down the doors she closed and locked years ago, and truly consider him as a partner.

She knew that Buffy wouldn't say anything. Couldn't say anything. The operation was too important, and Xander was not only falling in love with Lucy, he was introducing her to their work, letting her knew what they really did, and basically ensuring, if not her loyalty, then at least that she knew they were on the right side.

And anything Buffy might try with Xander would only mess that up.

Dawn waded out onto the dance floor and told Xander that she was feeling ill and that Buffy was going to take her home. Xander kissed her on the cheek and told her to feel better, then went back to dancing with his girl.

Dawn dragged her sister home, and proceeded to get the two of them very, very drunk.

* * * * *

**Smallville, Kansas  
Now**

"That was just a bad night!" Buffy said. "I mean, I had been lonely, and it's not like I'm getting any younger. I was just… mopey."

"And then," Dawn said, "Willow told me about London last month."

* * * * *

**London, England  
One month ago**

Willow watched, smiling, from the balcony as Xander and Lucy strolled through the hallway, his arm firmly around her shoulders.

"Buffy!" Xander called. Buffy was checking in with the guy at the front desk, who handed her a key to one of the guest rooms. She glanced up, saw Xander and Lucy, then took a deep breath. She held up a hand at Xander, and asked the young man another question. He looked confused for a second before answering. Buffy nodded at him.

"Hey," she said, approaching Xander and Lucy. She looked, Willow thought, very tired.

"Good flight?" Xander asked, unwrapping his arm from Lucy to give Buffy a welcoming hug.

"Not bad," she said, ignoring the hug offer. "Listen, I haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately, so I'm just gonna head up to my room. Nice to see you two."

She nodded at both of them and then headed up the stairs.

"You okay?" Willow asked as Buffy brushed past her.

"Just freaking peachy," Buffy muttered.

Willow turned back to the happy couple. Xander looked confused, and a little hurt, and Lucy wrapped her arm around his waist, telling him that Buffy was probably just tired. Xander looked up at Willow and sent a questioning look her way. Willow shrugged in ignorance, and then glanced back after Buffy, hoping her friend was just tired, but suspecting there was more to it than that.

* * * * *

**Smallville, Kansas  
Now**

Buffy sighed. "Crappy timing, isn't it?"

"The worst," Dawn said.

"So how come you're in her corner?" Buffy said. "I'm your sister, aren't you supposed to root for me to get the guy?"

"I'm not in her corner," Dawn said. They looked up as the screen door opened, and Xander stepped onto the porch. He turned and shook Clark's hand, and handed him a set of keys, then pointed at the rental. Lois was there, standing close to Clark, as though she was drawing energy from him. She nodded at Xander in a way that was not quite cold, but not quite friendly either. Lucy was nowhere to be seen. "I'm in the corner of love and happiness. And he's happy with Lucy, and he loves her. You know that. If he was happy and in love with you, I'd be all for it. At the moment, you'd just be the other woman."

"I know," she said. "That doesn't make it suck less."

"No," Dawn said. "I know. But you're going to get your shot, Buffy. Whether it's with him, or someone else. You're gonna have that one you can settle down with, and live with, and love for the rest of your life."

Buffy turned to her sister. "You really believe that?"

"I do," Dawn said, smiling at her. "I mean, unless you keep scaring them away, or having to kill them."

"Hey," Buffy said, offended.

"Not that it's your fault you have to kill them. They do keep turning out to be evil."

"Thank you," she said. "Mostly."

"We ready?" Xander asked as he walked up to the limo.

"You okay?" Buffy asked.

Xander shrugged. "Not really, no. This sucks to the highest levels of sucking, but it was necessary and I have to deal with it. So I'll deal."

Buffy and Dawn encircled him in a hug, and Xander wrapped his arms around them. They stepped back.

"Okay," Xander said, smiling at both of them gratefully as he opened the limo door. "Let's get back to work."

* * * * *

"He gave you a way to get in touch?" Lois asked. She and Clark were sitting at his kitchen table, having a cup of coffee.

"Yeah," Clark said, nodding. "I guess they thought, if I ever had some serious dealing with Lex…"

Lois nodded. "I figured if you did, Oliver would be your first call."

"Oliver?" Clark asked. "Why him?"

Lois rolled her eyes. "Well, he certainly seems to enjoy being a thorn in Lex's side. Plus, you know him pretty well."

Clark shrugged. "I suppose. I don't know, though, when a situation like that is likely to come up. I mean, Lex and I don't get along anymore, but it's not like we're, I don't know, archenemies or something." He paused. "Still, you never know what may come in handy."

Lois turned to look at Lucy, who was sitting on the couch, staring at, but not really watching, an infomercial about citrus-powered cleaners.

"What am I gonna do with her?" Lois asked.

"I don't know," Clark said. He got up and filled up both of their coffee mugs. "She seems pretty torn up."

"I'll say," Lois said, smiling at Clark, whose back was turned as he put the pot back in the coffee maker. She shook her head. "I've never seen her like this. God, I don't even know… with Jimmy and Chloe in the Talon with me, I have no idea how I'm going to take care of her."

"Lois, don't be silly," Clark said. "You're both welcome to stay here, as long as you need."

Lois looked surprised for a moment, but then smirked at him. "You just want a couple of Lane sisters under your roof," she said.

"What can I say? You have a way of making life more interesting."

She smiled at him, blushing just a little, and Clark laughed. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing, it's just… I think that maybe one of the first completely honest smiles I've ever seen from you."

"What can I say, Smallville. Sometimes you know how to make a girl feel nice."

"I'm going be outside for a bit," Clark said. "Yell at me if you need anything."

Lois nodded. "Will do," she said, as he headed for outside. "And Clark?"

"Yeah?" he asked, pausing at the door.

"Thank you."

Clark nodded at her once, and then headed up to his loft.

Lois stood up from the kitchen table and headed over to the living room, and sat next to her sister. Lucy looked over at her with tear-filled eyes and broke down.

"Oh, sweetie," Lois said, sliding over and wrapping her sister up in a hug. "It's okay, Lucy. It's going to be okay."

Lois held her sister close, and silently prayed that she could be there for Lucy now like Clark had been for her when she'd broken up with Oliver.

"It's okay," she repeated softly. "You're going to be okay."

Outside, Jimmy Olsen pulled up the house, and ran up to the loft looking for Clark.

"Clark!" he said. "Clark, it's Chloe. She needs your help. Some guys from DDS came and took her away. She said that you could help her."

"Domestic Security? What do they want with Chloe?"

"I made a deal," Jimmy said. "With Lex. I helped him kill a couple of stories, and he kept Chloe's name off of this… huge, secret wanted list. But I broke the deal, and now Chloe's been arrested.

Clark looked at Jimmy. "How long ago was this?"

"Just a few minutes," he said. "I came over here as fast as I could."

Clark reached into his pocket and pulled out the card Xander had given him.

"Jim, I'm going to go try to help Chloe," he said, handing the card to Jimmy. "If I'm not back in two days, call this man. Tell him I said you need help."

"That will get him to help me?" Jimmy asked.

"If it doesn't," Clark said, "tell him it's for the Traveler. He'll know what that means."

----------

End Chapter 10


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimers, etc., in chapter 1

______________________________________________________

**London, England  
Two months later**

"I know," Xander said into the telephone. "No, I know. Well, I appreciate you trying to help. Of course. Give Sam my love. All right, I will."

Xander hung up the phone and sat back in his chair.

"No luck?"

Xander looked up and saw Buffy leaning against his office door, with one arm hidden and still in the hallway.

"Not a bit," he said. "Riley says that wherever DDS has Chloe stashed, it's locked away in places he can't get to."

"That sucks. Have you talked to Jimmy recently?"

Xander shook his head. "I'll shoot him an e-mail today, to let him know about Riley. How is it possible that we have millions of dollars – literally – in a fund we use solely to bribe government officials, and we can't figure out the location of one twenty-two year old girl?"

"I don't know," Buffy said. "Incorruptibility is not a common trait."

"What's in your hand?" Xander asked.

Buffy smiled at him. "Close your eyes," she said.

"Can I just close the right one, or is that too creepy?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Xander, you know that doesn't bug me."

Xander conceded her point with a nod, and closed his eyes.

"Okay," she said a few seconds later. "You can open."

Xander opened his eyes and saw – "My suit?"

"Exactly!" she said. "Newly pressed."

Xander looked up at her, despair in his eyes. "I'm not being sent to another boring conference, am I?"

"No, nothing like that," she said. "I'm giving you an opportunity."

He leaned back in his chair and looked at her warily. "What kind of an opportunity?"

"You, Mr. Harris, get to take me out to dinner tonight."

"I do," he said flatly.

"Yup."

"Where?"

"Oh, some fancy pants restaurant Giles knows," Buffy said. "It's very exclusive, but I managed to get us a table."

"Buffy, I don't –"

"Look," she said, her voice suddenly soft. "You've been… sad. For two months. I can't stand to see you this way, Xander. It breaks my heart every day."

"It's not a whole lot better on this side," he said.

Buffy looked up at him. "How long can you wait?"

"What?"

"You were with Lucy for six months, and you fell in love. We all liked her. But… it's been two months since we left Smallville, Xander, and you haven't heard a word."

"Jimmy told me that –"

"From her, Xander," Buffy said. "You haven't heard anything from her."

"I know," he said, looking down at his desk.

Buffy came around and sat on his desk, taking his hands in hers.

"I know you love her," she said. "I know that half the time, you can't think of anything else. I've been there, Xander. And do you know what I learned?"

"What?"

"That there comes a point where you have to just live your life, and not dwell on could-have-beens."

"Yeah?" Xander asked. "Told that to Riley or Spike?"

Buffy recoiled from him as if she'd been hit.

"Shit," he muttered. "I'm sorry, Buffy. That was really low. You didn't deserve that."

"No, I didn't," she said, coldly.

"I just… I've been thinking a lot of those thoughts, and afraid to face them. Afraid of what might happen if I did. What if I never see her again? What if she never forgives me?"

"You live on," she said. "With the love of your friends, you move on, eventually. That's how I did it."

"I really am sorry," Xander said sincerely, looking up at her. "That was really mean of me."

Buffy smiled weakly at him. "You've always been able to just pinpoint my weaknesses, and get me right where it counts," she said. "I guess you just know me so well."

Xander smiled. "Let me make it up to you."

"How?"

"Well, this girl I know has reservations to this really swank restaurant. I bet if I beg hard enough, she'll let us take them instead."

Buffy smiled. "Pick me up at 7," she said, before hopping off the desk and heading out of his office.

"Pick you up where?" he called after her. "Buffy, we're staying in the same house!"

* * * * *

Xander's eye rolled back in his head with pleasure.

"Oh my God," he said. "Oh, Buffy, that's amazing."

She looked up at him and licked her lips. "Isn't it?"

Xander stabbed another piece of Kobe beef onto his fork. "I can't believe I've never tried this before." He brought the beef to his mouth and sighed with satisfaction. "What is this going to run us?"

"Doesn't matter," Buffy said.

"So really, really expensive?"

"Extremely," she said, chewing on a sprig of asparagus. Xander was truly enjoying himself, and that made her smile.

Xander leaned back in his chair, wiped his mouth with the napkin and took another sip of wine. "Buffy, this was fantastic," he said. "Thank you for bringing me out. Seriously. I needed this."

"I know you did, Xander," she said. She leaned forward, and placed her hand over his. He smiled at her and squeezed her hand. Buffy's smile widened. "Shall we go?"

"Don't we have to pay?" he asked.

"Taken care of," she said. "Unless you want dessert?"

Xander shook his head. "I'm completely and utterly stuffed," he said.

"Let's go then," she said. They stood from the table, picked up Buffy's shawl from the coat check and went outside.

Xander looked at her. She was wearing a black dress that slid smoothly around her curves, highlighting them without being revealing. She looked classy.

"I don't know if I've told you this tonight," he said, "but you look really nice." Buffy smiled up at him and hooked her arm through his, leaning against him and leading him over to the sidewalk.

"We're not driving back?" Xander asked, looking behind him for their car.

"Nope," she said. "Had the car picked up. Just you and me for a walk back to the house."

Xander smiled, and they shared a companionable silence for a few minutes.

"What are you thinking about?" Buffy asked.

"Oh, you don't want to know that," he said.

"Xander," she said, looking up at him and squeezing his arm. "Yes I do."

Xander sighed. "You're not going to like it."

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know, Xander."

"I was thinking that the last time I walked alone on this street, it was with Lucy," he said. "And that it was about a quarter-mile from here that I first realized I was in love with her. We were walking along and some guy tried to take her purse. She elbowed him in the throat, and then turned around and kicked him in the stomach when he fell down."

Xander chuckled. "The um, the guy ripped the sleeve of her dress. It was just a simple white dress, you know, knee-length, nothing special. Except it had these sheer sleeves, and this guy, he ripped one. So, I noticed the sleeve. And she just glanced at it and rolled her eyes, and then she ripped the sleeve right off. And then she pulled the other one off. And she turned around and tossed them on the guy.

"And that was when I knew," he said. "Just, everything she did was so… free of pretense. She was so sure of herself, and unflappable. I was gone."

Xander laughed again. Buffy sighed.

"Told you that you didn't want to hear it," he said.

Buffy looked up at him. "I did ask," she said.

"That you did."

They continued to walk in a slightly less comfortable silence. About ten minutes later, Xander stopped in his tracks.

"Xander?" she asked.

Xander looked at his suit. And then at her dress. And then thought about the restaurant and the way she had been treating him, how much thought she had put into this, and the money she was spending.

"What is it?" she asked.

"This… is a date."

Buffy grimaced. "I was kind of hoping you wouldn't notice."

"But… why?" he asked. "Why is this a date?"

Buffy shrugged. "What can I say?" she said. "I like you."

Xander's eyes widened. "You like me? You?"

"I know," she said, smiling sheepishly. "Kind of weird, isn't it?"

"How long has this been going on?" he asked.

"A while," she said with a slight shrug.

"Buff, come on," he said.

"It doesn't matter."

"Of course it does," he said.

"No it doesn't, Xander," she said. "Because you don't feel the same way about me."

She sat down on a bus stop bench, and he sat beside her, saying nothing.

"You're in love with Lucy," she said. "She's all that you can see. You barely even see me as a girl anymore."

"Buffy," he said softly, taking her hand. "No matter where I am, or who I'm with, or what is going on in our lives, I will always see you as a girl. And not just any girl. You're always gonna be the one who inspired me to become the man I am today. The one who set the bar for everyone who came after."

Buffy sniffed a little, and wiped a tear from her cheek with the back of her hand. "But you don't want to be with me."

"I'm sorry," he said. "I wish I did. I really do. Life would be a lot easier if I did."

Buffy chuckled. "When have we ever done anything easy?"

Xander smiled at her, put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "I love you, Buffy Summers. Don't you ever doubt that."

"I love you too, Xander," she said. "No matter what."

Buffy took a deep breath, then stood up, pulling Xander with her. "Okay," she said. "Let's go do this, then."

"What? Do what?"

"We're going back to the house and you're going to pack a bag, and I'm going to book you a plane ticket," she said, striding off in the direction of the house. "You're going after her."

"She told me not to," he said.

"I know," Buffy said. "But there's a fine line between respecting her wishes and looking like you don't give a damn."

"I've been writing," he said. "She said I couldn't call, so I wrote letters. Lots of letters. Like, every other day."

"Good," she said, dragging him along. "That's good."

They were a block away from the house when she stopped again.

"Buffy?" he asked. "What is it?"

Buffy turned to him, leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him full on the lips. A moment later, she pulled away and smiled at him. Xander looked confused.

"It's just," she said, "I'm the only one who hadn't."

"Dawn hasn't," he said.

"Doesn't count," Buffy said, turning on her heel and heading back to the house. "Little sister. Touch her and die."

Xander laughed, and followed along with Buffy.

"You go upstairs and pack," she said. "I'll be in the office, booking you a ticket."

"I have to ask," he said.

Buffy stopped, took a deep breath, and released it. She turned to him again. "I meant it earlier, when I said that seeing you so sad was breaking my heart. I love you, Xander. You're my best friend. I can't stand to see you hurting like this. So we're going to fix it. Okay?"

Xander smiled at her. "Okay," he said. He reached down and pulled her into a long, loving hug. They held each other for almost a minute, and when they let go, both had damp eyes.

"Go," she said.

Xander ran off toward his room.

Buffy took a deep breath, and headed for the office. She sat down at one of the computers there and brought up a travel site, and looked for the fastest flight to Smallville. She quickly found a flight that was leaving in three hours, and managed to get as far as finding out that there were a few first-class seats left before breaking down.

A couple of minutes into her cry, she heard someone clear their throat. Buffy looked up and saw Giles standing at the door.

"Hi," she said, wiping her eyes with her hands, attempting to hide any evidence of what she was doing. "I didn't know you were still up."

"I didn't realize anyone was in here," he said. "Are you… what's wrong?"

"It went like I thought," she said. "But not like I hoped."

"Ah," Giles said. He closed the door to the office and pulled a chair up beside Buffy. "Xander did not respond to your affections."

"He's in love with Lucy," she said. "I can't even blame him. She's pretty, and smart, and funny, and nice. She gets him. And they really are great together."

"That doesn't make it hurt less," he said.

Buffy shook her head.

"And you came in here to escape," he said.

"Actually, to get him a ticket to Smallville," she told him. "I told him he needed to go win her back."

"What ever for?" he asked.

Buffy paused for a minute to consider her answer.

"I'm not happy," she said. "I mean, not just right now, although, I'm really not happy right now. But in general, I'm not happy. Content, maybe. But this is a hard life we lead, and there is little room for actual happiness. I don't have it. Willow doesn't, not really. You don't. Dawn… doesn't even know what she wants out of life yet, but if I had to guess, I'd say that content is the most any of us can hope for."

"That is… bleak, if not altogether inaccurate," Giles said.

"But Xander has a chance, Giles. And even… even if it's not with me, even if it hurts me to send him away, even if all I want right now is to go upstairs and convince him that I'm the one… I can't even pretend to be his friend if I don't force him to take every chance he has to be happy. And Lucy's his best shot at that."

She sat back in the chair and waved at the screen. "So here I am. Booking a plane ticket so that the man I want to be with can go find the love of his life."

"Buffy," Giles said softly, "you are a far better person than I have ever been, or could ever hope to be." He stood up and planted a soft kiss on the top of her head, placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled at her.

"Come," he said. "There will be another flight tomorrow, if necessary, and I happen to know that the kitchen has an excellent ice cream selection."

Buffy took his hand and stood up, turning off the computer monitor before leaving the room.

---------

End Chapter 11


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimers, etc., in chapter 1

______________________________________________________

Xander ran through the common room, where two girls were catching up on a couple of months of Dr. Who. He ran through the gym, where another couple of girls were sparring, and one more was hanging upside down from a rope. He jogged into the kitchen and waved to Andrew.

"Xander!" Andrew called. "I need to tell you that –"

"Not now, Andrew," Xander said as he passed through.

"But it's really imp –"

"It can wait!" Xander called back at him.

He ran up two flights of stairs in the back of the house, down a hallway and into his room. Clothes were strewn about the place, and his drawers were open and empty. He was about to go yell at Andrew when his bathroom door opened. He stopped dead in his tracks.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," Lucy said, coming out of the bathroom.

"I um. Uh. Sorry, this is… how are you?"

"Good," she said. "You?"

"Definitely confused," he said. "You know I never wanted to –"

"I know," Lucy said. "It's… I've come to grips with it. I understand."

"Why did you come back?" he asked.

"I got your letters," Lucy said. She reached into her bag and pulled out a bundle of letters secured together with a rubber band. "After a couple of weeks of them, Lois finally convinced me to open one. And I was so angry at you. But, you kept sending them. Every other day. Eventually, I just, I wasn't mad anymore. And for about two weeks, every day, I wanted you to come for me. But you didn't, so I had to come find you."

"You told me not to," he said.

"I know. I changed my mind."

"I'm glad you did," he said, reaching out to her. She held her hand out and he took it gently. He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you, too," she said. She stepped away. "Now we need to get you packed."

"Packed?" he asked. "Why?"

"Chloe and Clark are missing," she said. "And I can't leave my sister alone. She needs me. You can do your job from anywhere in the world, but I need to be in Smallville."

Xander nodded. "Okay. I'll have to make arrangements, it might take a day or so."

"Andrew said he can handle it," Lucy told him. "Our car leaves for the airport in twenty minutes. Oliver has a plane waiting."

Xander smiled at her. "You thought of everything."

"It's what I do," she said.

"Buffy told me something tonight."

"She likes you, I know," said Lucy.

"You know?"

"Everybody knows, Xander. Faith knows. Andrew knows. Hell, Riley knows, and he's only been here once."

"She kissed me," he said. "I… didn't push her away."

Lucy sighed. "Okay," she said. "You're clearly not focusing here. I'll tell you what, you go say goodbye to your friends, and I'm going to finish packing your bags."

"You're not upset?"

Lucy tilted her head sideways. "Are you the one who wrote me these letters?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"And you meant what you said?"

"Every word," he said.

"Then I'm not upset. I love you, Xander, and I know that you love me, too."

Xander smiled.

"But lie to me again like you did and you'll wake up no longer a man, are we clear?"

"Crystal," he said.

"Okay," she said. She pecked him on the cheek, then turned around and started packing his bags. "Go say goodbye to your friends. We need to go."

Xander nodded. "Okay." He stepped out of his room, sighed happily, and headed downstairs.

He found Andrew in the kitchen alone, cleaning up. He looked up at Xander and grinned.

"Good surprise?"

"Best ever," Xander said. "Have you seen Buffy or Giles?"

"They were in here a minute ago, I think they headed up to Giles's study," Andrew said. "With ice cream."

Xander nodded. "I need you to do something for me."

"Anything," said Andrew.

"Don't let Buffy retreat into her shell," he said. "Make her go out and have fun sometimes."

"But she can beat me up," Andrew said, "and she is technically my boss."

"I know," Xander said. "But I have faith that you'll think of something. Promise me?"

Andrew nodded. "I'll do my very best."

"Thanks," Xander said. "Ice cream, huh?"

"Double fudge," Andrew said.

"Damn," said Xander. "I've been incredibly blind, haven't I?"

"Oh," said Andrew. "Yes."

Xander patted him on the shoulder and headed towards Giles's study. He stood outside for a minute, listening at the door. He heard both Buffy and Giles laughing, took a deep breath and knocked.

"Who is it?" Giles asked.

"Xander," he said.

"One moment," Giles said. He heard some shuffling and clinking, and then footsteps approaching. The door was unlocked and unlatched and then opened. "Come in. We were just reminiscing. I take it you found your guest."

"I did," he said.

"And?" Buffy asked, rising to her knees on the couch.

"We uh… we're leaving, actually," he said. "She needs to be with Lois, and I…"

"Need to be with her," Buffy said.

"I'll still be able to do all my work," he said. "I've got the Blackberry and the laptop, and all my phone lists."

Giles nodded. "Of course. When do you leave?"

"About fifteen minutes, actually. Ollie has apparently sent a car and an airplane."

"So, you are here to say goodbye, then," Giles said.

"I am," Xander said. "I'm sure we'll… revisit the subject when we find Clark and Chloe."

"Very good," Giles said. "Well, have Andrew send you any papers you need. You have… is there anything you need?"

"I don't think so. You've um…. Well. I uh." He chuckled and glanced down at the floor for a moment before looking up into Giles's eyes "You've done so much for me. Changed my life, maybe in more ways than we know. So. Thank you."

"You've taught me more than you know as well, Xander," Giles said. "And any time you need anything…"

Xander nodded. The two men embraced, patting each other on the back.

"Well," Giles said. He glanced back at Buffy and then smiled at Xander. "I'll um… leave you to it, then."

Giles stepped out of his study and closed the door behind him.

"She moved up the list real fast," Buffy said.

"Tied for first with the rest of you," Xander said.

Buffy sat down on the couch and patted the cushion next to her. Xander walked over and sat down, his arm around her. Buffy rested her head on his shoulder.

"This feels like goodbye. Like a real goodbye, you know?"

"It does," Xander agreed. "Weird."

"You're moving on," she said. "I guess it's natural."

"I'm not moving on."

"Yes you are," Buffy said. "This is going to be a big change, a new chapter in the life of Xander Harris."

"It's not like I'm abandoning you guys."

"I know, Xander. You'd never do that. But Lucy's going to take precedence now, and that's going to change things."

Xander sighed. "I suppose it will."

There was a knock at the door. "It's open!" Buffy called.

The door opened a crack and Andrew stuck his head inside. "Xander? The car is here for you."

Xander nodded. "I'll be down in a minute."

Andrew shut the door, and Xander turned back to Buffy. "So," he said.

"So."

"Well, just promise me that you won't be a stranger."

"I promise," Xander said. He turned and pulled her into a hug, his eyes wet with tears. "And call me anytime. All the time. About anything. Everything. Not just Council stuff. I need my Buffy stories."

"You too," she said, hugging him back hard, crying as she did so. "You call too." She pulled back from him and wiped at her tears. "And you better send me an invitation to the wedding, or I will be very upset."

Xander laughed and wiped away his own tears. "It is way too early to start thinking about marriage, Buffy."

Buffy smiled. "No. It's not."

Xander had nothing to say to that. Instead he stood up and walked over to the door. "Not coming down?"

She shook her head. "I got a private goodbye," she said. "I don't think I can take a public one."

Xander nodded. "I um…"

"I know," she said. "Me too. Go."

Xander nodded and shut the door behind him. He went downstairs and into the foyer where Andrew, Giles and a half-dozen slayers were waiting for him. Xander gave all of them hugs, even Andrew. Lucy came back inside, having finished loading the bags.

"Ready?" she asked, taking his hand in hers.

"Ready," he said.

"Lucy!"

They looked up at the balcony and saw Buffy leaning against the railing.

"What?" Lucy yelled back at her.

"He's yours now," she said. "Take care of him."

Lucy used her index finger to draw an X over her heart. Buffy nodded at her once and then walked away. Lucy squeezed his hand.

"Okay," Xander said. "Well… it appears we have a plane to catch."

With one final smile, Xander and Lucy went out into night, got into the waiting car and drove away. Together.

* * * * *

**Epilogue**

**Smallville, Kansas  
Two Years Later**

"Sorry about that arm," Clark said.

"Not your fault," Xander said, waving his broken right arm around. The cast was dark blue. "No way you could have known that guy would throw you into me. I should have stayed out of your way."

"I think I look weird."

"I've always thought you looked weird," Xander said. "Now you just also look blue."

Clark looked at himself in the mirror. "You don't think it's too… cheesy?"

"Clark, you've got on a tight, blue, full-body suit, red underwear outside the suit, a big, flowing red cape and a big yellow diamond on your chest with an S inside. Cheesy is not the word I would use."

"Flamboyant, maybe," Lucy said from the doorway.

"Lu," Xander said, chastising her.

"No, no, I want to hear everyone's opinion," Clark said.

"It'll take some getting used to," Xander said. "But to me? It looks honest. And heroic."

Clark took a deep breath. "Okay," he said. "Let her in."

Lucy rolled her eyes and waved down the hallway. A moment later Lois stepped into the room.

"Well?" Clark said.

"Has anybody told you that you have the most amazing abs?" she asked.

Clark rolled his eyes. "Lois, the suit?"

"It looks hot," she said. "But besides that … the colors, the way you're basically not hiding anything. It looks good, Clark. It looks… super." She smiled earnestly at him.

Clark nodded. "Good," he said.

The four of them walked to the front of the Kent farmhouse and stood in the sun. Clark seemed to be soaking in the rays.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Xander asked.

Clark took a deep breath. "Lex has just surfaced after being missing for two years. He claims he has no memory of Smallville, but already we've linked him to a half-dozen crimes, not the least of which is murder. With his resources, brains and ego, the things he can accomplish are just scary. He's driving Metropolis into the ground and making its people afraid. They need something to look up to, an example of how they can fight back at him and take control of their lives."

"And that's my baby," Lois said, twining her fingers with Clark's and leaning up to give him a kiss on the cheek.

Xander and Lucy looked at them and linked their hands as well.

"Okay," Clark said. "You guys stand back a couple feet, I've only done this a couple of times."

Everybody took a few steps backward, and Lucy grabbed her sister's hand.

Clark bent at the knees just slightly, and time seemed almost to stand still for a second. An instant later, he was airborne, a blue and red streak flashing through the sky.

Xander released his breath. "I hope I don't ever get used to that," he said.

"I never will," said Lois. Lucy and Xander shared a look.

"He'll be fine," Lucy said. "And he'll be back before you know it.

"I know. Go on inside, I'll be there in a minute."

Xander and Lucy went back in the farmhouse, and Lois stood there, watching the sky.

"I forgot something."

She nearly jumped out of her skin, and turned to find Clark standing behind her.

"What was it?" she asked.

He stepped up to her and pulled her into a deep kiss. "I love you," he said, when the kiss ended.

"I love you, too," she said.

Clark grinned and stepped out into the yard. "I'll be fine," he said.

"Go," she said.

He tilted his head just a little, a tiny smirk showing at the edge of his lips.

"Off you go!" she waved him away with her hand. He bent slightly again and rocketed into the sky.

"Up, up," she whispered, "and away."

----------

The End


End file.
